Thaindian News

Bangalore, Aug 24 (IANS) A number of Karnataka Police personnel from constable upwards face action for failing to serve court warrants against mining baron and former minister G. Janardhana Reddy, the government said Wednesday.

These police personnel had been “misleading the court, lying, and committed perjury” by not serving the non-bailable warrants issued nine times against Reddy even though he was available, state Home Secretary S.L. Jamdar told the Karnataka High Court here Wednesday.

Jamdar promised action within a week against constables, inspectors and others up to the rank of deputy superintendent of police for their failure. However, he did not give the number of personnel who will face action.

The promise of action against police personnel came after Chief Justice J.S. Khehar and Justice Ashok Inchegeri pulled the government up following a public interest petition by Bangalore advocate G.R. Mohan.

The petitioner sought a direction to the government to ensure prompt serving of court warrants and summons.

The nine warrants were issued by the judicial magistrate of Sandur in Bellary, Reddy’s political base, about 300 km from Bangalore, in a case filed in 2006.

Reddy and several others are accused of “destroying boundaries in the Karnataka-Andhra Pradesh border and also for issuing threats”.

The case was filed by Tapal Narayan Reddy, another mine operator in Bellary, who has been fighting the Reddy brothers for a long-time.

Additional advocate general K.M. Nataraj assured Justice Khehar and Justice Inchegeri that all criminal courts in the state would within a month have a constable each exclusively to ensure prompt serving of warrants and summons.

One of the grave charges against Reddy brothers is that they have erased boundary marks along Karnataka-Andhra border to facilitate their illegal mining activity. The Supreme Court has asked for a survey of the area and its decision is pending.