Poachers prey on peafowl explosion in Hyderabad

Udumula Sudhakar Reddy 
Peafowl population explosion in the city is making the act of poachers 
easy as they are available in abundance even in layouts, small vegetations and abandoned 
buildings. It is found that hunters are drugging them using after mixing the chemical 
mixed grains.
The latest census at KBR National Park in Banjara Hills in the city found that there are 
400 to 450 peafowl which is almost double than the previous census. The census is carried 
out by forest officials along with Bird Waters Society.
The peafowl population is similarly increased in Vanashtalipuram Park and the spillover 
is moving to the nearby vegetations.  In Vanasthalipuram at Sahebnagar morning walkers 
fond 'drug mixed grains' and noose which are used to trap the peafowl in HUDA layout area.
M Narasimha Murthy a morning walker and head master Abdullapurmet government high school 
says ,”Poachers are trying to kill them by both setting up noose or using drugs or poison 
mixed grains. We have found the poaching material and handed over to forest officials. We 
found a few dead peafowl in the area too,”
The wild life wing crime control cell is also received several calls on the movements of 
poachers in the areas like Golkonda and Rajendranagar. Wild life wing officials kept 
watch in these areas but so far didn’t arrest any one.
Anti Poaching Squad Forest Range Officer Mr. Tirumala Rao said ,”we are going send the 
drug mixed grains to forensic lab for tests. We have been received calls from locals 
regarding poaching activity in Vanasthalipuram. There are around 15 peafowl in the Huda 
layout. As there are no houses there is tree growth due to which they made it as habitat. 
Due to growth in numbers the peafowl they are easily visible outside the forest area due 
to which they are targeted,”

Tigers roar in Andhra Pradesh: Census

Udumula Sudhakar Reddy

Intermediary findings of census of big cats in the State reveal that the tigers are roaring, showing a positive growth in numbers. The reports based on camera 
traps and pug marks coming in from tiger reserves, sanctuaries and national parks to State wild life wing have some big surprises too.
 In Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger reserve so far the reports found that there could be around 78 tigers including cubs. Wild life officials Atchampet division alone had shown 17 tigers including cubs which is a record sort of number. The figures are excluding the Gundla Brahmeswaram sanctuary area.

 In another significant finding three tigers were found in Kinnerasani sanctuary of Khammam and officials have lifted pug marks. In 2010 census Centre declared that there 

are no tigers in Khammam.  In Papikonda sanctuary too presence of tiger is identified. A Gaur wild buffalo skeleton was found in Chintapally forest area of Andhra Orissa Border which indicated that there could be the present of tigers. “Tiger can only kill a Gaur 

wild buffalo in the food web so we are suspecting a presence of tiger in this are,” said a wilfe official. The tiger census exercise has began on May 1 across the State. The census work is in full swing all parts of the State except in Chintapally forest area in Vishakapatnam where Maoists are resorting to burning of vehicles recently. Chief Wild Life Warden Mr S V Kumar said ,’we are getting positive results of significant presence of tigers. The consolidation report will be out by May last week. The due date given is May 25. We have set up 90 pairs of camera traps in NSTR,” In an area of 400 square kilometers as part of intensive data collection the camera traps are set up in  NSTR in phase-4 monitoring of the area. The camera traps will be later shifted to other areas and the monitoring will continue through out the year in different forest area.

In Pocharam forest area of Medak district though there is no presence of tigers,  the wild life officials found the evidence for 12 panthers.  Forest officials are taking the help of Hyderabad Tiger Conservation Society and Wild Life Institute of India for carrying out the census.
Chief Conservator of Forests(project tiger) Mr A K Nayak said ,” NSTR has received an 
excellence award from National Tiger Conservation Authority for effective human resources 
utilization for 2010-11. NSTR was utilizing Chenchu primitive tirbals for tiger 
protection and capacity building apart from training in house staff,”
Each camera used would cost Rs 18,000 and the money for census is funded by NTCA of the 
Ministry of Forest and Environment.

Mumbai attack plotters discussed Hyderabad

Mumbai attack plotters along with David Headley discussed Hyderabad along with other cities in the country source said.
After training with Lashkar E Tayyaba Headley was asked to visit India by his handlers in Pakistan and Hyderabad, Kolkata, Delhi, Bengaluru, Pune, Nagpur and Gujarat are also discussed apart from Mumbai.
Sources in IB said Headley disclosed to FBI that Jammu and Kashmir, Hyderabad and Junagarh are on the list of the terrorists.
In the voice in the tapes identified by David Headly is Abu Al Qama who took the name of Hyderabad.
Abu Al Qama based in Pakistan is the handler of Babar during the Mumbai attack. Babar was asked to contact Indian Media and tell that the belong to Hyderabad Deccan Mujahideen.
Abu Al Qama asked Bbar to identify himself as from Toli Chowki in Hyderabad. Qama asked Babar that they are carrying out attacks against two faced policy.
When contacted state police said that they have no information on Headley's Hyderabad links. Police also said that there is no information on reported links of Mujeeb Ahmed of Hizbul Mujahideen to Headley.

Naxal fire power: Indian Maoists are armed with 3000 rockets

Top Maoist Sadhana Ramakrishna has confessed to the police that they have improvised rocket launchers, rocket propelled grenades and spare parts for about 3000 rockets. The aforementioned warheads have already reached Maoists in Dandakarnya in Chhattisgarh. “A large number of rocket launchers might have already reached Danadakaranya, which is a cause of serious concern for the security agencies,” said a police official.

The Maoist unit was busted when spare parts for 1000 rockets were being shifted to DK. They were seized from different transport agencies in Raipur. The police said that the Maoists have spent Rs 4 to Rs 5 crore on rocket launchers and RPGs in the past two years. It was also found that the Maoists are moving under fake identities and have even purchased a flat in Kolkata under a fake name and have restarted their old couriers system.

The police said that there is a change in the rocket designs compared to those seized from Tech Madhu in 2005 and 2006 in Andhra Pradesh. The old design was tested in the Nallamala forests and was used in the attack on the police station in Durgi in Guntur district. The efficiency of those rockets was about 60 per cent. Though there were plans to improvise the designs, it could not be done after the arrest of Tech Madhu at Chennai and other members of production units at Bhopal and Rourkela in 2006.

A senior police official said, “With the recent arrests, it was learnt that they have changed the design of the rocket and might have successfully tested it in Dandakaranya, then they may have started manufacturing rocket launchers and rocket propelled grena-des on a very large scale.”

In his confession the Maoist said, “I order the manufacture of some of the parts from local workshops and send the finished parts to Dankaranya. As there is the possibility of exposure in the manufacturing of some parts like rocket fin holders and grenades, we send the aluminium and zinc blocks and the corresponding dyes and moulds into Dandakaryana to manufacture them in the jungle itself.”

The supply unit registered a workshop in Kolkata by the name of “Durga Techni-cal Services” and is carrying out its activities there. A total of Rs 1.23 crore was seized during the searches in Mumbai and Kolkata. Parts of rocket propelled grenades worth Rs 10 lakh were seized at Raipur too. The state police and the Kolkata STF arrested Sadanala Ramakrishna, a native of Karimnagar and chief of technical research and arms manufacturing of the CPI Maoist along with four others on February 29 in Kolkata.

CBI chargesheets Gali Janardhan Reddy in Rs 5000 crore OMC mining scam

Udumula Sudhakar Reddy

Central Bureau of Investigation on Saturday filed a charge sheet against Karnataka former minister Mr Gali Janardhan Reddy and four others in illegal mining scam case.

The investigating agency in the chargesheet filed in the special court for CBI cases at Nampally accused that Gali conspired with officials and resorted to illegal mining elsewhere in Karantaka and sold it using the permits from AP. CBI officials found that OMC exported 65 lakh tones of iron ore illegally by using the permits of 68.5 hectare lease in AGK mine.

CBI joint director Mr V V Laskhminarayana said “Gali Janardhan Reddy, B V Sreenivasa Reddy entered into a criminal conspiracy with VD Rajagopal, Linga Reddy and Y Srilakshmi and others and got mining leases allotted to OMC and indulged in illegal mining activities to lakhs of tones of iron ore. We have filed chargesheet against the accused against whom we completed the investigation. Others name will be included after further investigation,”

He added,” In the investigation scientific techniques like the satellite imageries and 

advanced surveying methods have been used to establish the aspect of illegal mining. We 

also used forensic accounting technique to analyse the computer hard disks, laptops, 

mobile phones and the data retrieval techniques are used,”

Though the dead mines official Mr R Linga Reddy who was the then Assistant Director of 

Mines Department was named as accused in the chargesheet action is dropped against him. 

In the chargesheet CBI alleged that Rajagopal being a public servant abused his official 

position and sidelines other eligible mine applicants and gave priority to OMC. Rajagopal 

also instructed Linga Reddy the assistant mines director not to inspect the mines at the 

field level and aided the illegal mining. The subordinates of Linga Reddy issued permits 

on large scale to Gali’s firms. CBI didn’t file any charge sheet against forest officials 

as there is no evidence against them regarding the alleged irregularities. However CBI 

didn’t mention the area from which the illegal iron ore is brought from except saying its 

from Karanataka.

Probe on political leaders on CID JD

There is no mention on the alleged role of political leaders in the scam including the 

then mines minister Ms Saita Indra Reddy, Kadapa MP YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and Former Chief 

Minister N Chandra Babu Naidu in the chargesheet. Sources said Kadapa MP Mr. Even Jagan 

is not listed as witness in the case though he made allegations against Naidu. Mines 

owner and Congress leader Mr N Konda Reddy who made a statement against YS Jagan is added 

as witness in the case. Minister for Mines Ms Sabita Indra Reddy is listed as witness in 

the case sources said. TD leader and mines owner C Shashi Kumar is made as key witness in 

the case apart from another mines owner Tapala Ganesh who joined BJP recently.  The 

forest official Mr Kallol Biswas is also added as witness in the case.

CBI is non committal on the role of the political leaders in the scam. When asked about 

the involvement of political leaders Mr Lakshminarayana said ,”chargesheet is filed as 

against whom the investigating is completed. Investigation is still on against others. 

Depending on the evidence we will file supplementary chargesheet,” Replying to query on 

Sabita Indra Reddy’s role he said,”Investigation is on,”

How Gali was nailed in Chargesheet?

OMC records says that 28.9 lakh metric tonnes of iron ore from AGK mine from 2007-8 to 

2009-2010 and the quality of iron ore in these permits was shown between 62 per cent to 

65 per cent Ferrous content. Records collected from various ports prove the quantity of 

iron ore exported by this company. Experts from National Mineral Development Corporation 

and Indian Bureau of Mines and other agencies collected iron ore samples from the mine 

and sent them to laboratories of national repute and in analysis it is found that iron 

ore is of very low and not of commercial grade. This establishes that he had brought iron 

ore from other areas and sold it here.

“The mine is not excavated to an extent of 29 lakh tones as it was claimed.  The 

satellite images and photographs of national and international satellites and from the 

National Remote Sensing Centre archival from 2007 to 2011 it is visible that there was no 

major mining activity from 2007 to 2010 and no possibility of such quantity of iron ore 

extracted from this place,” alleged CBI in the chargesheet.

In physical survey by the Singareni collieries officials using latest Total station and 

3d terrestrial laser scanner it was confirmed the excavation was not carried as per the 

approved mining plan. They found that only 40,387 tonnes of iron ore was excavated within 

the lease boundary the remaining amount was excavated from outside the lease area from 

neighbors. Mine owners, truck owners and transporters gave witness against Gali Janardhan 

Reddy in the case. During the raids crores of rupees of cash and gold is recovered.

Charged

1.        Gali Janardhan Reddy Director OMC( in jail)

2.        B V Sreenivasa Reddy MD OMC(in jail)

3.        V D Rajagopal then director Mines and Geology(in Jail)

4.        Obulapuram Mining Company private limited

5.        R Linga Reddy the then AD Mines Anantapur(died)

Charges against Gali

•        120-B criminal conspiracy(conspiring with officials to get lease and officials abused 

their position and granted him lease)

•        420(cheating the government by exporting illegal iron ore from Karnataka with AP 

permits)

•        409(criminal breach of trust for misutilising the iron ore mine entrusted to him for 

particular purpose)

•        468(Using the forged documents to cheat. Using the permits by application showing false 

records)

•        471 (Using forged as genuine document and exporting lakhs of tones of iron ore)

•        Section 13(2) read with 13(1( (d) criminal misconduct under prevention of Corruption 

act against VD Rajagopal

CBI officials estimated that OMC scam amount would be around rs 5000 crore. Around 65 lakh tonnes of iron ore is illegally exported. Each tonne is exported around 120 to 170 US dollars at an average of 150 dollars per tonne of iron ore. It comes around 7500 rupees in Indian

currency. The total makes up to around 5000 crore.  Central Bureau of Investigation court room is filled with the chargesheet copies as the agency brought 50 thousand papers of each copy.

CBI Joint director Mr V V Lakshminarayana said ,”the crux of the chargesheet runs into 

186 pages with 201 witnesses and 607 documents running into 50,000 pages,”

CBI teams lead by Additional SP Mr R M Khan has brought 10 huge trunk boxes with the 

documents to court in the city armed reserve vehicle. The trunk boxes are specially 

ordered to hold the chargesheet copies.

The court sore room already has several boxes of documents regarding other cases like 

railway recruitment scam and other financial frauds in which trial is on. The 

investigation official of the case Addditional SP Mr R M Khan submitted the chargesheet 

in the case.

CBI special court judge Mr B Naga Maruthi Sharma personally inspected the court store 

room on Saturday.