Hyderabad: CBI today filed a supplementary chargesheet in the illegal mining case involving Obulapuram Mining Company of former Karnataka minister Gali Janardhan Reddy, naming suspended IAS officer Yerra Srilakshmi as a co-conspirator.
Srilakshmi has been charged with criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and causing wrongful gain (to OMC) under the Indian Penal Code, as well as with offences under Prevention of Corruption Act.
The agency, however, also informed the court that Centre’s sanction to prosecute Srilakshmi was still awaited, though necessary material had been sent to Delhi.
CBI officials submitted documents to the court in support of charges against Srilakshmi, who, it said, had conspired with Gali Janardhan Reddy and other accused.The 1988-batch officer, who was Commissioner of Health and Family Welfare when she was arrested on November 28 last year by the CBI, allegedly abused her earlier official position as the secretary (Industries and Commerce) to favour OMC in allotment of mining leases. She is in judicial custody in Chanchalguda Prison here. The CBI, in December, had filed the first chargesheet in the case which named Janardhan Reddy, his brother-in-law B V Srinivas Reddy (the Managing Director of OMC), former Director of Mines and Geology Dept V D Rajagopal and late R Lingareddy, the then Assistant Director (Mines and Geology) in Anantapur district, besides OMC itself.
However, Srilakshmi’s name had not figured, as the CBI was seeking sanction for prosecution. OMC is accused of tampering with mining lease boundary markings, and carrying out illegal mining in the Bellary Reserve Forest area, spread between Bellary district of Karnataka and Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh.
The CBI has earlier alleged that Srilakshmi issued two Govt Orders on June 18, 2007, sanctioning mining leases for iron ore to OMC, while rejecting other applicants.
The GOs did not specify the clause `Captive Mining’, though OMC itself had applied for mining lease stating its intention to set up a steel plant in Kadapa district. This caused “pecuniary gain” to the company, CBI stated. (PTI)
