Bengaluru: Gali Janardhan Reddy granted bail

Bengaluru: The First Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) court on Wednesday granted bail to mining baron and former BJP minister Gali Janardhan Reddy in connection with money laundering and bribery case. 

Mr Reddy was arrested by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) sleuths on Sunday for allegedly demanding a bribe of 57 kg of gold worth Rs 18 crore and Rs 2 crore cash from Syed Fareed Ahmed and his son Syed Afaq Ahmed, the owners of Ambidant Marketing Pvt Ltd, to bail them out of the Enforcement Directorate investigation.

Mr Reddy, who was sent to judicial custody by a local court on Sunday, approached the ACMM court on Tuesday. First ACMM court Magistrate Jagadeesh heard Mr Reddy's plea and had reserved verdict for Wednesday.

The court, reprimanding the CCB for digressing from the case, questioned the police whether there was any complaint against Reddy and whether the charges against him were filed merely on the basis of a statement made by Fareed.

While five accused in the Ambidant scam, including accused one and two Fareed and Afaq, have already got bail, the court questioned CCB on what basis Mr Reddy was made accused 6. The defence counsel also questioned the necessity of arresting Mr Reddy when the courts had granted bail to the other five accused. 

Mr Reddy was directed to deposit a bail bond of Rs 1 lakh. His associates, Nanjunda Reddy and Raghuram Reddy, have filed sureties for the bond. Mr Reddy's close aide Mehfuz Ali Khan was accused of mediating the multi-crore deal between Fareed and Reddy. However, on Tuesday, Khan stated in his affidavit that he had taken the money as a loan from Ambidant without knowing the company's fraudulent activities.