A court in Rayadurgam in Anantapuram district of Andhra Pradesh on Friday sentenced B V Srinivas Reddy, director of Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC), for allegedly obstructing and threatening senior forest officer nearly 10 years ago.
The Rayadurgam court awarded three-year jail term to Srinivas Reddy, who also happens to be the brother-in-law of OMC promoter and former Karnataka minister Gali Janardhan Reddy.
Reddy was also asked to pay a penalty of Rs 5,000 to the court. He was charged with threatening senior Indian Forest Service officer Kallol Biswas, who went to the mining area to probe into the allegations of transporting of iron ore more than the permitted quantity.
Interestingly, in August 2009, the Central government issued the compulsory retirement order to Kallol Biswas, following a report from then chief secretary Dinesh Kumar.
A 1991-batch IFS officer, Biswas was charged with committing some violations while dealing with the the controversial Obulapuram mining issue when he was serving as DFO of Anantapur.
Biswas had served notices to Gali Janardhana Reddy for allegedly crossing the permitted boundaries of the mining activity of the OMC in both Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Biswas heading the committee on the forest boundaries issue.
Biswas served notices to OMC suspending the mining licenses but he allegedly faced threat to his life from the mining company. He even went underground fearing attacks by the miscreants.