CBI on Saturday grilled former Karnataka minister and mining baron G Janardhana Reddy and two of his associates in connection with an alleged iron ore export scam.
Reddy as well as Mehfuz Ali Khan and Karapudi Mahesh were questioned separately for a few hours, said sources in CBI whose action came a day after a CBI court in Bangalore directed the agency to interrogate them for their alleged role in illegal export of around 5.1 million tonnes of iron ore from Belekeri port from January 2009 to May 2010.
CBI questioned Reddy about the alleged involvement of his Associated Mining Company in the export scam, sources said.
The illegal export from Belekeri port was exposed by former Karnataka Lokayukta N Santosh Hegde who had, in his report, said 7.74 million tonnes of iron ore were illegally exported between 2006-2007 and 2010-2011.
Reddy and Khan were brought here yesterday from Chanchalaguda jail in Hyderabad where they are being tried in another case in connection with alleged mining scam.