The focus of probe into alleged illegal mining by Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) was on Saturday shifted to Bellary in Karnataka where the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) recovered 15 kg. of gold and Rs.2.5 crore from the lockers of the company's managing director B.V. Srinivas Reddy.
The valuables were said to have been deposited in five lockers of Mr. Srinivas Reddy with a private bank in Bellary. Three other lockers in the same branch were empty. The CBI officials could only open two lockers initially, but the remaining did not unlock for some reason. Later, they too were opened with the assistance of specialists, sources said.
A sum of Rs.4.95 crore said to be belonging to Mr. Srinivas Reddy was recently recovered from a lorry at Guntakal, while 50 kg. of gold was found in the house of OMC director and former Minister Gali Janardhan Reddy during their arrest in Bellary on September 5.
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A CBI team drove Mr. Srinivas Reddy to Bellary on Friday night and kept him in custody at Paramadevanahalli police station from 2 a.m. He was taken to the bank around 9.30 a.m. where he was joined by his lawyer from Hyderabad V. Rami Reddy. The former Minister B. Sriramulu, Mr. Srinivas Reddy's wife Srilatha, and parents also visited the bank.
The team also conducted a search at the rice mill of a mine owner, Anand Chowdary, at Kurugoda village, but did not find anything.
Meanwhile, the probe into illegal mining at the CBI office here was confined to interrogation of Mr. Janardhan Reddy, who was serving his fifth day in police custody, and ex-mines director V.D. Rajagopal.
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