Ballari, Sep 23 (DHNS): The Supreme Court on Friday allowed a plea by mining baron and former Karnataka minister Gali Janardhan Reddy to visit his home town Ballari for Dasara celebrations.

A bench of Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan granted permission to Reddy to remain there for two days on September 29 and 30.

The CBI, represented by Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh, did not object to the application. However, he pointed out that the court had, earlier this month, rejected his plea to live there permanently.

“This is only for two days,” the bench said, while allowing Reddy’s plea to modify the order, dated January 21, 2015, which granted him bail but with conditions that he would not visit Ballari, Anantpur and Kadapa.

The court had enlarged Reddy on bail in an illegal mining case involving Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) after the CBI did not oppose his bail plea.

The court had then directed Reddy to cooperate in the smooth conduct of trial and appear before the CBI special court in Hyderabad. It ordered Reddy to furnish two sureties of Rs 10 lakh each as condition for bail.

Janardhan Reddy and his brother-in-law B V Srinivas Reddy, also managing director of OMC, were arrested by CBI on September 5, 2011.

The company was accused of changing mining lease boundary markings and indulging in illegal mining in the Bellari Reserve Forest area, spread over Ballari and Anantapur district.