Karnataka polls: Gali Janardhan Reddy can't campaign, says Supreme Court

New Delhi: Former Karnataka minister and mining baron Gali Janardhan Reddy in the illegal mining case suffered a setback on Friday with the Supreme Court refusing him permission to visit Bellary for electioneering for his brother Somasekar Reddy who is contesting the Assembly polls in Karnataka.

Mr Reddy who was granted bail by the apex court in January 2015 was asked not to visit his hometown Bellary without permission of the court. He was released after remaining in jail since March 2011 in the illegal mining case.

Counsel for Reddy pleaded before a bench of Justices A.K. Sikri and Ashok Bhushan that as he had complied with the condition for over three years, it might be relaxed to enable him to visit and stay in Bellary. It was submitted that he has to visit his hometown to vote and be permitted to stay there till the polls to campaign for his brother.

ASG Maninder Singh, who appeared for the the CBI, however, brought to the notice of the court that one of the conditions for bail was that he should stay outside Bellary and this condition should not be relaxed. Taking note of the submissions of CBI, the bench dismissed the petition observing that there was no need for him to campaign in poll.