Three cases against Reddy in one week

BJP legislator Janardhan Reddy, who accused Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and two of his ministerial colleagues of taking a bribe of Rs 1.5 billion from the mining lobby in Bellary, is now facing the heat of three police complaints registered against him in the span of one week.

The litany of complaints against Reddy began when the priest of an ancient Temple situated along Karnataka’s border with Andhra Pradesh lodged a complaint with Bellary rural police on September 4 accusing the BJP legislator of razing the shrine to the ground.

The second case against Reddy pertained to illegal excavation of iron-ore by Obalapuram Mining company owned by Reddy from a disputed area. Though the court had ordered a status quo in the disputed area, Reddy’s business rivals lodged a complaint against him for violating the court order.

A total of six persons involved in the transportation of iron ore from the banned area had been arrested on the basis of the complaint against Reddy’s company, police said.

The third complaint registered on Monday accused Reddy’s company of trespassing into the land of a neighbouring mine owner and excavating iron ore from there. The aggrieved mine owner T Narayan Reddy accused Janardhan Reddy’s company of trespassing into his land and excavating ore.

Superintendent of Bellary district police Amrit Paul told reporters that a total of three cases had been registered against Reddy during the last one week. Police in the district is engaged in removing the legal hurdles in the arrest of Reddy, who has already taken anticipatory bail from the court. The police has filed an affidavit in the court seeking cancellation of the anticipatory bail granted to Reddy.

Reddy has claimed that the police complaints registered against him were “politically motivated”. He sought to dismiss the police complaints as “false charges”, which had been levelled to frame him. He said the false police complaints had been registered to divert public attention from the Rs 1.5 billion bribery charge levelled by him against the Chief Minister and his ministerial colleagues