Illegal mining: MLA remanded to judicial custody till Sep 27

Bangalore,Sept 20: The CBI Special Court on Friday sent BSR Congress MLA Suresh Babu to judicial custody till September 27 in a case relating to alleged illegal export of iron ore from Belikeri port in Karnataka.

Babu, a nephew of B Sreeramulu, former minister and close associate of mining baron G Janardhana Reddy, was arrested by the CBI on Thursday, September 19 after questioning and was produced before the court on Friday morning.

The alleged scam was exposed by former Karnataka Lokayukta N Santosh Hegde, who in his report, had said 7.74 million tonnes of iron ore were illegally exported between 2006-2007 and 2010-11, causing huge loss to the exchequer.

Babu is also named as an accused in the cash-for-bail scam in which a CBI judge was allegedly bribed for granting bail to Janardhana Reddy, prime accused in the Obulapuram Mining Company scam probed by the CBI, now lodged in Chanchalguda jail in Hyderabad.

PTI