Reddy Withdraws Bribe Petition against Kumarswamy in Supreme Court 

New Delhi, Aug 10 (PTI): Karnataka Tourism Minister G Janardhan Reddy on Tuesday withdrew his petition in the Supreme Court in which he had sought a CBI inquiry into alleged Rs 150-crore bribe collected by the then Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy from the mine lobby.  
 
A Bench of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and Mukundakam Sharma allowed Reddy to "withdraw the petition as dismissed" after senior counsel Mukul Rohtagi sought permission for withdrawing the 2006 petition on the ground that the Karnataka government had handed over the case to the State Lok Ayukta headed by former apex court judge Justice(retd) Santosh Hegde.

Alleging that former Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy had collected a bribe of Rs. 150 crores from mine owners in Bellary, Janardhana Reddy had sought an inquiry by CBI into the allegations. Counsel Prashant Kumar, appearing for Kumaraswamy, told the court that in fact, there is a demand to entrust the entire issue of illegal mining to CBI but it was Reddy and the BJP government in Karnataka who are resisting the move.

The apex court then said that both Reddy and Kumaraswamy can put up their respective contentions before the High Court, if and when the situation arises.

The writ petition was filed by Janardhana Reddy in 2006 and the Supreme Court had on several occasions declined to issue notice. Incidentally, after the change of power, Janardhana Reddy and his brother G Karunakar Reddy, Revenue Minister, face allegations of illegal mining being probed by the Lok Ayukta.