Hyderabad: In a major relief for former Karnataka MLA and mining baron Gali Janardhan Reddy, the Telangana High Court has stayed his seven-year jail sentence in the high-profile Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) scam case. The court also granted him bail, along with three others convicted in the same case, while imposing strict conditions on their release.
The High Court on Wednesday put on hold the CBI Special Court’s May 6th verdict, which had convicted Reddy and sentenced him to seven years in prison. With the stay order in place, Gali Janardhan Reddy will remain out of jail until his appeal against the conviction is fully heard.
Under the bail conditions, Reddy has been ordered to surrender his passport, remain in the country, and avoid any criminal activity while the appeal is underway. The court also directed him to provide two sureties of ₹10 lakh each.
The case traces back to the period between 2007 and 2009, when Gali Janardhan Reddy was accused of large-scale illegal mining in Andhra Pradesh’s Obulapuram region. The CBI has alleged that the scam resulted in a staggering ₹1,200 crore loss to the exchequer. Following his conviction, Reddy lost his MLA seat from Karnataka’s Gangavathi constituency.
Though Wednesday’s order spares him immediate jail time, the disqualification from the Assembly remains valid unless the conviction is overturned altogether. The OMC scam, one of India’s biggest mining corruption cases, has dragged on for nearly 15 years, with hundreds of witnesses and thousands of pages of evidence on record. Several former bureaucrats and company officials also remain accused in the case.
Though the High Court’s decision to hear his appeal has offered Gali Janardhan Reddy some reprieve, his long-drawn legal battle is far from over.
