Hyderabad:
In yet another setback to former Karnataka minister Gali Janardhana Reddy, a special court in Hyderabad on Monday dismissed his bail plea in the illegal mining case.
This was for the sixth time that the court dismissed a bail petition of Reddy since his arrest last year in a case involving his Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC).
The mining baron, who is a member of the legislative council, had sought bail to participate in the next year's assembly elections in Karnataka.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court, however, was not convinced with the arguments put forward by Reddy.
He had sought bail on the ground that he wanted to contest the elections scheduled to be held in a few months.
His counsel argued that the CBI was dragging the case, though the probe was already completed.
The investigating agency opposed the bail petition contending that the probe was still on and, if released on bail, Reddy could tamper with the evidence.
Reddy, a former minister in Karnataka's Bharatiya Janata Party government, and his brother-in-law B.V. Srinivsas Reddy, the managing director of OMC, were arrested by the CBI September 5 last year in Bellary and brought to Hyderabad. The federal agency filed a chargesheet against them and others December 3, 2011.
OMC is facing the charges of illegal mining of iron ore in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh by changing the boundaries of mining area leased to it by the state government.
Janardhana Reddy was lodged in Chanchalguda Central Jail in Hyderabad till March this year when he was shifted to Bangalore in connection with another illegal mining case in Karnataka.
He was brought back to Hyderabad in September this year in connection with another case in which he allegedly paid bribe to a CBI court judge for bail. Last month, the Andhra Pradesh High Court granted bail in this case but he remained in jail due to the OMC case.
With the CBI court dismissing his plea, Janardhana Reddy, currently lodged in Chanchalguda jail in Hyderabad, is now likely to move the high court, his counsel said.