Ex-Karnataka minister Janardhana Reddy used fake permits from AP to carry out illegal mining operations

October 10, 2013

Janardhana_ReddyBangalore, Oct 10: It's rather ironic that former Karnataka tourism minister G Janardhana Reddy is cooling his heels in Hyderabad's Chanchalguda prison, considering that it was close business links with Andhra Pradesh that brought him untold riches.

Reddy, who controlled a three-tier system spanning the entire operation of illegal iron ore mining from excavation to the wharfs of Belekeri port, used fake permits from Andhra Pradesh to carry out his operations.

"Reddy's associates, including Swastik Nagaraj and Kharapudi Mahesh, were delivering envelopes containing fake permits of the Andhra Pradesh department of mines and geology, forest permits, invoices, et al for the transportation of illegal ore to Belekeri port during January 1, 2009 to May 31, 2010," according to a chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) before the special CBI court here.

The document reveals that racketeers created firms, including Shafia Minerals, Manjunatheswara Minerals, in the names of their employees and relatives and printed invoices in their names which they used to give to trucks carrying illegal material, along with fake permits.

"Such firms were opened at the behest of Janardhana Reddy and his personal assistant Mehfuz Ali Khan and huge amounts were routed through the accounts of the said firms...which finally reached Reddy," the CBI has charged.

Pointing out that Ali Khan, Reddy's main accomplice, was managing excavation, weighing and dispatch of illegally extracted ore from various mines, CBI sources said Khan would threaten mine owners and forcibly take away ore they'd mined.

"He was also threatening officials from the forest department, DMG and police among others when they raised objections against illegal extraction/transportation of ore carried out on behalf of Reddy," the chargesheet says.

Janardhana Reddy was not only illegally mining iron ore but extorted money from others involved in the trade. His aides Khan, Mahesh and Nagaraj were in charge of collecting money from trucks carrying ore mined illegally by others. "They collected about Rs 200 per MT (tonne) from each truck carrying illegally extracted ore for arranging safe passage of the trucks for transit to Belekeri," the chargesheet says.

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News Network
January 15,2020

New Delhi, Jan 15: The mother of 23-year-old paramedic student, who was raped and brutally assaulted by six men in December 2012, on Tuesday said she knew that the curative petitions of the convicts will be rejected and is confident that they will be hanged on January 22.

Her remarks came after the Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to stay the execution of two of the four death row convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case while dismissing their curative petitions against their conviction and capital punishment.

"The curative please had to be rejected. This was the third time they had gone to the Supreme Court. Whatever pleas they file, we are ready to face them and we will fight it out. We feel that they will be hanged on January 22. We want that to happen," Nirbhaya's mother told PTI over phone.

The four convicts -- Vinay Sharma (26), Mukesh Kumar (32), Akshay Kumar Singh (31) and Pawan Gupta (25) -- are to be hanged on January 22 at 7 am in Tihar jail as a Delhi court issued their death warrants on January 7.

Vinay and Mukesh had filed curative petitions on January 9.

Shortly after the apex court refused to stay the execution of two of them, Mukesh moved a mercy petition before President Ram Nath Kovind.

Mukesh also approached the Delhi High Court for quashing the death warrant. The high court is expected to take up his petition on Wednesday.

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News Network
March 5,2020

Mumbai, Mar 5: Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal and few others have been booked by the ED in a money laundering case even as the agency is conducting searches at his premises, officials said on Thursday.

They said a criminal case against the former chairman of the airlines has been filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after taking cognisance of a recent Mumbai Police FIR filed against him.

The Enforcement Directorate carried out raids at Goyal's premises in Mumbai on Wednesday and also questioned him after filing the case, they said.

The action is continuing, they added.

The Mumbai Police FIR pertains to charges of alleged fraud by Goyal and others against a Mumbai-based travel company.

Goyal has earlier been grilled by the central probe agency in a case filed under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) in September last year.

The agency had carried out similar raids, under the FEMA, in August last year against Goyal, his family and others.

ED has alleged in the past that the businessman's empire had 19 privately-held companies, five of which were registered abroad.

The agency is probing charges that these firms allegedly carried out “doubtful” transactions under the guise of selling, distribution and operating expenses.

The ED suspects that expenses at these companies were allegedly booked at fake and high costs and as a result, they “projected” huge losses.

Alleged shady aircraft lease transactions with non-existent offshore entities are also under the ED scanner and it is suspected that Jet Airways made payments for lease rental to “ghost firms”, which purportedly routed the ill-gotten money in Goyal's companies.

A full-service carrier, Jet Airways shut its operations in April last year after running out of cash.

A month earlier, Goyal had stepped down as the chairman of Jet Airways.

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News Network
January 7,2020

Mumbai, Jan 7: Facing criticism from social media and political quarters for holding a 'Free Kashmir' poster during a protest against violence at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Mehak Prabhu, a Mumbai-based storyteller, on Tuesday clarified that she meant to highlight the restrictions imposed in Jammu and Kashmir and wishes to see peace in the region, adding she had no other motive behind her actions.

"At around 7 pm yesterday, I reached where the protest was happening at the Gateway of India. Like anybody else who believes in democracy, I also joined that protest. We were standing for justice to the JNU students," Prabhu said in a video posted on Facebook.

"I saw a bunch of people who were painting placards on every issue like NRC, CAA and for JNU students. There was a placard lying on the side which said 'Free Kashmir'. The first thing which came to my mind when I saw that placard was about the basic constitutional rights of Kashmiris," she said.

Prabhu also said that she was not a Kashmiri and was brought up in Mumbai. She outlined that she was standing with a flower in her hand and asserted that the entire matter was "completely blown out of proportion".

"I was quietly standing with a flower in my hand. This means we need to make peace together. That was my only intention in holding that placard. The narrative that has been put out is absolutely wrong," she said, describing the reactions to the matter was "crazy".

The Mumbai-based storyteller underlined that the incident is scary and urged the people to spread the words of what she said and not hatred.

"The way it has gone, it is very scary. I am a simple person. As a woman, it is very scary for my safety right now. Spread this side of my story and let's stop it here. Let us not spread the hate. It has happened to me, it can happen to anyone. We should not live in fear," Prabhu further said.

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