The Central Bureau of Investigation has arrested a former official of the Andhra Pradesh Mining Development Corporation in Hyderabad in connection with the illegal mining case involving Karnataka former Minister Janardhan Reddy. The CBI officials have taken V D Rajagopal, the then director of mines into custody for allegedly favouring Obulapuram Mining Company by granting licenses.

The accused has been presented before the magistrate of the special court today in Hyderabad and later shifted to the CBI office. A CBI team lead by Joint Director Lakshminarayana has questioned Rajagopal till late Saturday before taking him into custody. He is the third accused to be arrested in the illegal mining case ever since the CBI registered case against Obulapuram Mining Company in 2009.

Janardhan Reddy and OMC Managing Director Srinivasa Reddy were already in Judicial Custody since September and lodged in Chanchal Guda Central jail in Hyderabad.