A special court in Bengaluru has granted permission to attach 82 immovable properties that belong to G Janardhana Reddy, a former minister and accused in the illegal iron ore mining scam in Ballari, and his wife G Lakshmi Aruna. The Special Court, meant to exclusively deal with criminal cases related to elected former and sitting MPs/MLAs in Karnataka, passed the order last Saturday based on an Anti-Corruption Branch of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) petition.
The CBI had initially sought the attachment of six properties belonging to Janardhana Reddy and 118 properties in the name of Lakshmi Aruna. However, the court approved the attachment of only five of Reddy’s properties as one of the listed six was not in his name. In addition, the court permitted the attachment of only 77 of Lakshmi Aruna’s 118 properties since she had acquired some of these assets before the alleged offense in 2009.
The attachment is linked to a 2012 complaint against government officials’ involvement in the Ballari illegal iron ore mining scam. Upon investigation by the CBI, Janardhana Reddy’s name and others were added to the case in 2013. The CBI alleged that Janardhana Reddy had acquired the majority of the assets mentioned in the schedule of properties through the proceeds of the aforesaid offenses, and sought their attachment in an application filed in the case.
There are currently 21 accused in the case, and the CBI claimed that Janardhana Reddy had committed alleged offenses causing a loss of Rs. 198 crores to the government. The properties sought to be attached are worth Rs 65.05 crore and were allegedly acquired through the proceeds of the crime by Janardhana Reddy in his name, as well as in his wife’s and companies’ names.
Janardhana Reddy and Lakshmi Aruna could have provided security instead of undergoing the attachment. However, the Court noted that they have not taken this step and proceeded with the order of attachment.
