Hyderabad, October 9 : The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday took K Mehfuz Ali Khan, personal assistant of jailed mining baron Gali Janardhan Reddy, into custody for further questioning into the Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) scam.
The CBI officials took Ali Khan into their custody from Chanchalguda Jail on Tuesday morning. It may be mentioned that a special court on Monday awarded CBI the custody of Ali Khan till October 16.
Earlier, seeking 14-day custody of Ali Khan, the CBI alleged before the court that Khan was also involved in illegal mining and played a role in many shady transactions of Janardhan Reddy and other accused and knew about monetary transactions of the illegally mined iron ore involving the OMC.
The CBI wants to elicit information from Ali Khan about some "heavy transactions" shown in various bank accounts in his name and about the "flow of money". In its petition filed before the special court, the CBI contended that Ali Khan's interrogation was essential to understand the modus operandi adopted by him in connivance with Janardhan Reddy and the OMC and to identify his accomplices in the crime, to identify the buyers of the illegally mined iron ore, which the agency had claimed was actually mined in Karnataka but was shown to have been mined in Andhra Pradesh.
The CBI is also hoping to ascertain the names of public servants who helped Janardhan Reddy and others in carrying out their illegal mining business.
However, while granting seven-day CBI custody, the court asked the officials to produce him before the court on October 17. The court also directed the CBI to interrogate Ali Khan from 10 am to 5 pm in the presence of his lawyers.
- INN
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