IAS officer Srilakshmi sent to judicial custody in illegal mining case

But she was sent to the Chanchalguda jail till December 12. Her husband,Gopi Krishna,himself an IPS officer,was by her side during the court proceedings.

The court also reserved the order on her bail plea till tomorrow,after hearing the arguments.

Srilakshmi,who is accused of favouring OMC in grant of mining leases in 2007,was arrested by CBI on Monday. Her bail plea says that she was only involved in processing of the file which led to issuance of the Government Order granting the lease. The lease had been provisionally granted by the Andhra Pradesh government one year before she took charge as secretary,Industries and Commerce,it says.

“The order was issued after approval by the then Andhra Pradesh Minister for Mines (Sabita Indra Reddy,currently the state Home Minister),” according to the bail application.

But CBI lawyer B Ravindranath said that “it was not proper to blame the minister as it is the secretary who should safeguard the interest of the state and guide the minister.”

He said that Srilakshmi was closely involved in the criminal conspiracy and had exclusive knowledge of the scam,and of monetary transactions (bribes paid) for procuring the lease.