Janardhan Reddy seeks more time to submit documents of Janthakal mining case

Bengaluru: Former minister G. Janardhan Reddy, who spent 40 months in prison, appeared before the Lokayukta Special Investigation Team (SIT) that is probing the Janthakal Enterprises illegal mining case, on Friday and sought three weeks’ time to submit relevant documents to substantiate his claim.

He had, in 2007, alleged that H.D. Kumaraswamy, the then Chief Minister, had taken kickbacks to sanction a mining lease.

Kumaraswamy, who got anticipatory bail on Thursday, made his statement as a witness, in the case, not as an accused. He denied any intervention in the case. He claimed to have neither called nor orally directed any official to bypass any legal procedure.

The SIT Special Court has extended the police custody of Baderiya till May 20. As his police custody ended on Thursday, the officials produced him before the court in the evening.

The SIT told the court that they could not question the accused as he had been admitted to hospital for the last two days, and that they need more time to gather information from him about the case. Considering their request, the court extended Baderiya’s police custody for two more days.