During the reign of YS Rajasekhara Reddy, not only in united Andhra Pradesh but also in Karnataka, Obulapuram mining became a controversial issue. It is known that Gali Janardhan Reddy and Co mined several hundreds of crores of rupees worth of iron ore in Obulapuram by erasing the boundaries.. demolishing temples.. threatening the officials.. even defying the restrictions of the forest department.
The then Minister of Mines Sabitha Indra Reddy, IAS officer Sreelakshmi has been accused of playing a key role in granting permits to Obulapuram Mines Company. Srilakshmi lost her job and spent years in jail.
Srilakshmi got relief in this case. The Telangana High Court gave a clean chit to Srilakshmi in the Obulapuram Mining Company case and issued orders. The court acquitted Srilakshmi in this case. The court dismissed the charges against her.
It is known that Srilakshmi was accused of taking bribes from the Obulapuram Mining Company for giving permissions. The CBI has registered a case in this matter. She was also in jail for a year.
During the period 2004 – 2009, Srilakshmi was the Principal Secretary of the Mining Department and was accused of committing these irregularities. But recently the High Court gave a clean chit dismissing all the charges against Srilakshmi as there is no evidence against her.
At the time, there were reports that Srilakshmi, who became an IAS at an age of 22, would become a union cabinet secretary. She lost the chance due to the OMC cases against her. But now that the High Court has acquitted her, it is believed that there will not be any obstacles to reaching the level of Chief Secretary of AP Government.