In a relief for former Karnataka Minister and mining baron Galli Janardhana Reddy, the Supreme Court on Friday allowed him to visit Bellary district in Karnataka to meet his ailing father-in-law.
The Vacation Bench of the court, led by Justice Indira Banerjee, allowed him two weeks' time from June 8 to visit his father-in-law, who had suffered a stroke.
The court pulled up the CBI for not framing charges against him, even after six years, in an illegal mining case.
"Even six years down the line, charges have not been framed? Why? We would like to know... We are concerned," Justice Banerjee addressed the CBI counsel.
On June 6, the Vacation Bench agreed to hear the plea urgently.
As per his bail condition, Mr. Reddy is not permitted to visit Bellary without prior go-ahead from the court.
In January 2015, the court granted bail to him in an illegal mining case involving the Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) on the condition that he does not visit any of the mining zones in Karnataka or Andhra Pradesh.
Mr. Reddy had, by 2015, been in jail for over three years and agreed with the court's caution to cooperate in the trial before a special court in Hyderabad.
The apex court had at that time acceded to the conditions put by the CBI, including that Mr. Reddy would surrender his passport, not influence witnesses and refrain from visiting Bellary, and Anantapur and Cuddapah in Andhra Pradesh. It further ordered him to furnish two sureties of Rs. 10 lakh each as condition for bail.
Mr. Reddy had sought bail in view of his poor health, among other reasons. He had approached the apex court challenging a 2013 High Court order rejecting his bail petition.
The petitioner and his brother-in-law, B.V. Srinivas Reddy, managing director of OMC, were arrested by the CBI on September 5, 2011 from Bellary and brought to Hyderabad. He, along with others, is facing five other cases.