The special court of sessions, set up to exclusively deal with criminal cases related to former and present MPs/MLAs in Karnataka, has ordered attachment of 82 properties belonging to former Minister G. Janardhana Reddy and his wife G. Lakshmi Aruna till the adjudication of the corruption case related to illegal mining and export of iron case against him.
B. Jayantha Kumar, judge of the special court, passed the order on June 12 while partly allowing the application filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2015 for attaching a total 124 properties – six registered in the name of Mr. Reddy and 118 registered in the name of his wife.
What CBI had sought
The CBI had sought attachment of the properties under the provisions of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 1944, while contending that the properties were purchased using money received from illegal mining and export of iron ore during the period January 1, 2009, to May 31, 2010.
However, the court did not attach the properties that were purchased prior to June 1, 2009, and ordered attachment of five properties registered in the name of Mr. Reddy and 77 properties registered in his wife’s name.
Ms. Lakshmi had objected to attaching her property though she is no more an accused in the case. The court said that “she had not produced any document to show that she has acquired property independently other than the income of the companies of Mr. Reddy and other than the alleged ill-gotten money” from illegal mining by the companies owned by Mr. Reddy.
Option not exercised
The court also pointed out that neither Mr. Reddy nor his wife have sought permission to give security in lieu of such attachment of property even though they had the option in law to furnish security to the satisfaction of the court to avoid attachment. While a majority of the property is in Ballari, the remaining are in Bengaluru, Chickballapura, Doddaballapura, and other places.
The CBI had sought attachment of the properties, worth around ₹65 crore, to recover the loss of ₹198 crore caused to the State exchequer by Mr. Reddy due to illegal mining. The attachment was sought as an interim measure apprehending that these properties could be disposed of by Mr. Reddy and his family members before the conclusion of the trial.
