Guntakal police on Thursday recovered Rs 4.95 crore cash from a truck heading towards Hyderabad from Bellary. Police suspect the cash could belong to mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy's Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC).

It is suspected that there could be more cash stashed in the truck, which was seized by the cops at Hanuman Junction in the town. Two persons - Eeswar Reddy of Proddatur and Venkatrami Reddy of Kadapa - travelling in the truck were taken into custody. Venkatrami Reddy is brother of Sreenivasa Reddy who was arrested along with Gali Janardhan Reddy. The recovered cash was stashed in three gunny bags in the truck.

Upon opening the bags, the police found bundles of cash in them. The duo was taken to the One Town police station where Eshwar Reddy said that he was the owner of the lorry and was going to deliver the cash to a person in Hyderabad. According to sources, the duo confessed that they had received the cash from mining baron Mr Janardhan Reddy's men in Bellary and they were supposed to deliver the amount to a person at a check post on the outskirts of Hyderabad.

Sources said it was a routine practice for Gali Janardhan Reddy's men to shift cash in trucks from Bellary in the guise of shifting iron ore. Insiders in the mining business said the Gali brothers often used tippers to dump cash towards mines located in Andhra Pradesh from Bellary from where they used to circulate the money for various purposes. During the 2009 assembly polls, officials of Election Commission and police department had seized crores of rupees from various vehicles. The money was basically meant for distribution among the voters and used to come from Bellary. It is also said Gali's managers might have stashed cash bundles in several vehicles ever since CBI started conducting searches on his properties and houses of his family members in Bellary, Bangalore and other places.