Mining baron Gali Janardhan Reddy’s personal assistant K Mehfuz Ali Khan on Friday told a court that he was being implicated in the Obulapuram illegal mining case. Ali Khan was brought from a prison in Bangalore and produced before the special court for CBI cases in the city. He was sent to judicial remand till October 17.
Clad in a white kurta and jeans with a skull cap, Ali Khan stood before special court judge Durga Prasad Rao with folded hands an requested permission to speak. When the judge allowed him, Ali Khan said: “I have been implicated in the case.
The CBI has recorded statements of 205 persons as witnesses. None of them spoke a word about me. It also asked me to appear before it to record statement. Instead of recording the statement at the CBI office in Bangalore, they took me to the Income Tax office. They misguided and wrongly implicated me.”
The judge asked him to approach the court through his lawyer. Meanwhile, the CBI filed a petition seeking Ali Khan’s custody, and the matter was posted for Monday. The CBI said it had searched the premises of the Devi Enterprises, owned by Ali Khan, and seized incriminating documents and material.
“The scrutiny of the documents has established the role of Ali Khan. He played a vital role in maintaining records pertaining to Gali Janardhan Reddy and the Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC).”
Many witnesses confirmed that Ali Khan had compelled them to sell iron ore at a lower rate, the investigative agency contended. Stating that Ali Khan’s interrogation is vital to ascertain various facts related to the illegal mining, it asked the court to give custody of the accused.
Ali Khan filed a plea seeking special status prisoner which was granted by the court. Earlier Ali Khan had also alleged that he was asked by CBI additional SP R M Khan to go incognito during the process of investigation.
Gali’s remand extended
Karnataka former minister Gali Janardhan Reddy and three others accused in the cash-for-bail scam were sent to judicial remand till October 19 on Friday.
Meanwhile, Janardhan Reddy filed a bail petition in the ACB court.
The two other accused in the case, suspended judges Lakshminarasimha Rao and Prabhakar Rao, who were released on bail, also appeared before the court.
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