CBI's spy thriller that nailed Gali - TeluguPeople.com News

Hyderabad: It wasn't an easy task for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to infiltrate into the strongly-guarded citadel of former Karnataka tourism minister and mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy, so it laid a master plot to nail him in the illegal mining scam.

As per a report in Zee News (quoting an English daily), the CBI on keeping careful track of movements and activities of the Bellary 'king' found that he had used all sort of tactics from greasing palms to misusing his political connections, fudging Karnataka-Andhra border map and even faked invoices to further his illegal mining activities.

The central probe agency entered the secretive world of Janardhana Reddy by planting a mole at his 'palace' in Bellary humbly named 'Kuteera' (cottage). Three months before the raid, a CBI agent masquerading as a private security guard became part of the Reddy household.

He slowly earned the confidence of his masters and even became familiar to the mining baron's inner circle. But all the while he kept passing on 'confidential and highly useful' information about the illegal mining baron to the agency.

A source close to the Reddy's told the daily that for a spy it would not have been easy to nail the all-powerful mining czar, who always handpicked his army of private security guards, especially those posted at 'Kuteera'.

'If he had the slightest doubt about someone, he immediately had him replaced,' he said. Having earned the confidence of Janardhana Reddy, it became easy for the 'CBI guard' to glean information about his wealth and illegal operations, enabling the investigative agency to plan the raid to perfection.

Then, just three days before the raid, the guard left the job citing health and family issues. Janardhana Reddy, who allowed him to go without suspecting a foul play, got the biggest shocker of his life when he saw the 'guard' in the team of CBI sleuths who raided his house.

'The CBI raid was meticulously planned. 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 source was quoted as saying. The central probe agency, which has till now executed its plan with perfection, raided the Reddy citadel immediately after the Supreme Court gave it permission to extend the probe to Karnataka.

The CBI action came as a big surprise to many who pondered how the agency managed to gather such concrete evidence about Janardhana Reddy's illegal mining business, which prompted it to raid his Bellary bungalow.

But once you realise that it was a master plot by the CBI, executed to absolute perfection, that made the Bellary 'king' bite the dust, it now seems like a breath-stopping Bollywood thriller.