Hyderabad: Charges framed against Sabitha in illegal mining case

Hyderabad: A special CBI court here has framed charges against state education minister P Sabitha here on Friday in connection with an illegal mining case. Along with her, industrialist and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Gali Janardhan Reddy and several others were also framed.

Sabitha and others have been accused of allowing illegal mining of iron ore along the Andhra Pradesh-Karnataka border in Bellary when she was the minister for mines and geology in the then Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s government in united Andhra Pradesh.

Apart from Sabitha and Janardhan Reddy, charges were framed against former mines and geology department director V D Rajagopal, former secretary of mines B Krupanandam, managing director of Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) B V Srinivas Reddy and Janardhan Reddy’s personal assistant Mehfuz Ali Khan.

However, no charges were pressed against former IAS officer Y Srilakshmi as the case against her has been stayed by the Telangana High Court.

The judge, while producing his order said, “Though the mining lease in united Andhra Pradesh was shown as notified for the purpose of catering to the iron ore needs of Brahmani Steels at Kadapa, the actual lease granted to Janardhan Reddy removed the word ‘captive mining’ purposefully.”

The two witnesses in the case – Tapal Ekambaram and H Mallikarjun – will be examined by the court on November 9.