Mining case: Andhra High Court cancels IAS officer’s bail

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The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Monday cancelled the bail of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Y Srilakshmi in an illegal mining case. By January 6, Ms Srilakshmi has to go back to jail. She was arrested in December and got bail within 48 hours from the CBI court in the Obulapuram Mining Case.

Ms Srilakshmi’s name is not mentioned in the chargesheet filed by the CBI in the illegal mining case. Her name is likely to be added in the supplementary chargesheet that may be filed soon.

The high court order came on a petition by the CBI, challenging a special court’s December 2 order that granted bail to Ms Srilakshmi.

The investigating agency had argued that the officer could influence the investigations. The court agreed with the CBI’s argument that it was not proper to release Ms Srilakshmi on bail when the investigations were on and other accused in jail.

The high court December 16 had cancelled the bail of VD Rajagopal, the former vice chairman and managing director of the state-owned Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation (APMDC).

The specific allegation against her is that she issued a government order in which a very critical word ‘captive” was dropped. The OMC was granted the mining lease preferentially on the pretext that it is meant for captive mining for a steel plant Brahmani Steels to come up in Kadapa but because the word ‘captive’ was dropped, the Gali brothers were able to mine and export iron ore, even though Brahmani steels itself never became operational.

Rajagopal, former Karnataka minister G Janardhana Reddy and his brother-in-law BV Srinivasa Reddy are currently lodged in Chanchalguda Central Jail here in the illegal mining case.

She was the family welfare commissioner at the time of her arrest by the CBI.

The federal investigative agency questioned her for three days with regard to the alleged favours shown by her in granting iron ore mining leases to Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) owned by Janardhana Reddy.

The 1988-batch IAS officer was secretary of industries in the YS Rajasekhara Reddy government when OMC was granted leases for iron ore mining in Anantapur district.

The state government suspended her on the day when she was remanded to judicial custody.

 

 

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