CBI officer worked as a guard at Reddy’s house

Mumbai Mirror

Bangalore, 18 November 2011: 

A loyalist reveals how the agency gathered minute details of the goings-on at the illegal mining baron’s den

 

If greasing of palms, misuse of political clout, fudging the map of Karnataka-Andhra border and fake invoices were the tools that illegal mining baron Galli Janardhana Reddy used to dig gold from iron ore mines, it was a master plot by CBI, orchestrated to perfection, that made the Bellary king bite the dust.

 

The agency planted a spy at Kuteera, Janardhana’s ‘palace’ in Bellary. Masquerading as a private security guard for three months, he passed on “meticulous” information about the illegal mining baron to his bosses, a Reddy loyalist has told Bangalore Mirror on condition of anonymity.

 

But for the ‘spy’ it would have been tough for the CBI to nail Reddy for good, the source said. The former state tourism minister “got the shock of his life” when he saw his private guard (in mufti) trooping into Kuteera with CBI sleuths for the early morning raid on September 5.

The investigative agency, when contacted by BM, neither confirmed nor denied that it had planted the ‘guard’ at Kuteera.

 

Three months prior to the raid, the ‘guard’ allegedly joined the services of Reddy. He must have earned his confidence, otherwise he would have never been appointed to guard Kuteera. “Reddy always handpicked his army of private security guards,” the source said.

 

“If he had the slightest doubt about someone, he immediately had him replaced,” the source said. Having gained entry into Reddy’s citadel, it became easy for the professional to glean information about his wealth and illegal operations.

 

The source said that the officer also came to know about the inner-most circle of the Bellary king. All the while, he kept passing on the information to the CBI, enabling its top brass to plan the raid to perfection.

 

Then, just three days before the raid, he left the job citing health and family issues. Reddy let him go, suspecting nothing. The harsh reality – that he had been hoodwinked – dawned on him early morning on the raid day, when he saw the ‘guard’ in the team of sleuths.

 

“The CBI raid was meticulously planned,” the source said. “In December last year, the Andhra Pradesh High Court vacated the stay, obtained by the Reddys in 2009, on the agency probing illegal mining. Till September, the CBI investigations were limited to Andhra Pradesh only.

 

“The raid happened immediately after the Supreme Court gave the CBI permission to extend the probe to Karnataka.

 

“It seemed amazing that the sleuths managed to amass so much authentic information about Reddy in so little time, prompting the raid of his Bellary bungalow. But everything falls into place once you realise that there had been a man right inside Reddy’s home, passing on information to the CBI for three long months.”