State tells K’taka HC it has given nod to CBI to attach Reddy’s properties

BENGALURU: Fresh trouble is in store for G Janardhana Reddy, who recently announced the launch of his Kalyana Rajya Pragathi Party (KRPP) after the state government informed the Karnataka High Court that it has granted approval to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for the proposed attachment of Reddy’s properties.

The CBI had, on January 4, approached the high court alleging that the state had been delaying grant of approval for prosecution and sought a direction to the state for early consideration of its August 2022 application to attach Reddy’s properties.

However, the state on Thursday submitted that the CBI’s assertions against the government were wrong and unwarranted. The agency itself was responsible for the delay in attaching Reddy’s properties and was now passing the buck, the state government contended.

The high court also castigated the CBI for not pursuing its 2015 application before the jurisdictional court for attaching Reddy’s properties after the agency said that the matter was only numbered in 2022.

The CBI’s petition noted that its investigation had revealed that Janardhana Reddy and his associates caused wrongful loss to the state to the tune of Rs198 crore by indulging in large-scale illegal mining in Ballari and surrounding areas. It also noted that Reddy had allegedly begun disposing of his properties in order to evade the process of law.

In the CBI’s petition, as well as during Thursday’s hearing, it was noted that when the prosecution’s 2015 application was filed, Reddy and his family members had properties worth about Rs 65 crore in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. It also said that 219 other properties in the two states, worth about Rs 17 crore, were traced to the Reddy family.