HYDERABAD: Former Karnataka minister Gali Janardhan Reddy’s Obulapuram Mining Company Private Limited (OMCPL) conspired with state government officials in obtaining a mining lease in a piece of land that doesn’t have iron ore of the commercial grade, the CBI has said in its remand report and custody petition filed before the CBI court. Focusing its investigation on mining activity in the lease area of 68.52 hectares known as Anthar Gangamakonda (AGK) allotted to the OMC, the CBI found that the company took the land on lease only to justify “illegal mining” elsewhere. “The OMC is mining in some other area and bringing the same to the stockyards of AGK and transporting under the permits issued by the Assistant Director, Mines and Geology (ADMG), Anantapur,” the CBI said.According to the investigating agency, there are six mining leases in D Hirelal village in Obulapuram out of which three belong to the OMC on 68.52, 39.50 and 25.98 hectares respectively. The State government circumvented procedures laid down under relevant acts in leasing out 68.52 hectares to the OMC. In fact, it had accepted only two applications, that of OMC and M/s Vinayaka Mining Company, and finally granted 68.52 hectares to the OMC and 25 hectares to the AP Mineral Development Corporation (APMDC). The lease was pending due to litigation but a lease deed was executed handing over the land to the OMC on June 19, 2007.As per rules, when a mine owner excavates ore, he has to pay royalty at a fixed rate and is issued a permit by the concerned ADMG mentioning the quantity of the ore to be lifted and also the forest department, if the mining area falls under forest area. “As per OMC records and those collected from the ADMG, it appears that the OMC lifted 28.90 lakh metric tonne between 2007-2008 and 2009-2010 and the quantity of iron ore in these permits was shown to be between 62 to 65 per cent Fe (iron) content,’’ the CBI said.As part of its investigation, the CBI along with experts from the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), the Indian Bureau of Mines and other agencies collected samples of iron ore from the leased area and the same were sent to laboratories. “Scientific analysis showed that the quantity of iron ore is very less and was not of commercial grade,’’ it said.Moreover, the OMC did not excavate the lease area to such an extent that 29 lakh tonne of iron ore could have been extracted. To establish this, the CBI obtained archival satellite images/photographs. Through the National Remote Sensing Centre, archival Hyderabad images of the 2007-2010 were obtained and from the images, it was clearly visible that there was no major mining activity in the area and there was no possibility of extracting 29 lakh tonnes of iron ore. A physical survey was also conducted by officials of the Singareni Collieries who used latest equipment like TOTAL Station and 3-D Terrestrial Laser Scanner and it was confirmed that excavation was not carried out as per the Approved Mining Plan.“They also confirmed that as per the field survey, the total volume excavated from the mines since its inception was only 5.48 lakh tonnes. From this, the volume of iron ore excavated could be 1.45 lakh tonnes. The officials found that only 40,000 tonne of iron ore was excavated within the lease boundary of OMC and the balance quantity of 1.05 lakh tonne was excavated from outside, (i.e immediate neighbours),’’ the CBI said. The CBI also found that OMC gave Raising Contract for excavation of mines to M/s Vijay Leasing Company (VLC) for 2007-2008 and partially in 2008-09 and to M/s RK Mining in 2008-2010. VLC records show that they have carried out excavation to an extent of 3.94 lakh tonnes only but the ADMG shows that OMC carried out mining to the tune of 12 lakh metric tonnes. The records of RK Mining could not be ascertained as they carried out excavation in other mines and are not maintaining records separately.“It is also observed from the Lokayukta, Karnataka report that VLC and RK Mining carried out Raising Contracts for other mines in Karnataka and the payments were made to them by M/s Devi enterprises owned by M Ali Khan, a personal assistant of Gali Janardhan Reddy,’’ the CBI mentioned in its remand diary. Further, the report also mentioned that under Mineral Concession Rules, raising contracts are not permissible. There are other records showing that there are many differences in the Income Tax returns, Returns before other statutory authorities which show that OMC is not running a fair business. There have been several raids and seizures by the IT authorities on OMC and it came to light that they intentionally committed irregularities in their business and wrongful acts in exports of iron ore.“It has come out in investigation that OMC has conspired with the government officials in obtaining the land and it was obtained with the sole purpose of justifying their illegal mining activity as there was no commercial quality iron ore available in the land,’’ the CBI said.The CBI said it has evidence in the form of statements of witnesses like that of divisional forest officer, Anantapur, former mines manager of OMC and others which show that there was ‘no mining activity in the lease area of OMC and the iron ore was illegally brought from other areas in Karnataka and shown as that excavated from the leased area. Further, the CBI pointed to the survey findings of the Supreme Court’s Central Empowerment Committee which found no active mining in the land.The CBI said it wanted to know where the illegal mining activity actually took place, where the iron ore was taken, sold or exported and where all the illegally acquired money from such export is kept. “The custodial interrogation of the accused is needed and they (accused) were questioned at their residence in Bellary. However, they did not cooperate,” the CBI said.Explaining the reasons for the arrest, CBI officials said the accused are influential persons and are likely to tamper with evidence if left free and influence witnesses and will not allow genuine investigation. “There is a likelihood that the accused will commit further offence by making evidence like documents connected with monetary transactions disappear. They are also likely to disappear and go abroad and not cooperate with the investigation as they are very rich persons and have a lot of businesses outside the country also,’’ the CBI said. The agency has added two more sections -- 409 IPC and 468 IPC -- in Janardhan Reddy’s case.Seeking custody of the accused, CBI said the accused are to be questioned to ascertain: Names of public servants with whom they conspired to get the lease; how much money or commission was/is paid to the public servants for the favours to carry out illegal mining; The exact place and source from where the illegal iron ore excavation was carried out and who all, including public servants, are involved in the illegal acts.
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