Cash-for-bail: Suspended judge, 2 Karnataka MLAs booked

www.mangaloretoday.com

Hyderabad, June 9, 2012: The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in Andhra Pradesh Saturday booked suspended judge T. Pattabhirama Rao and seven others, including two Karnataka legislators, in the cash-for-bail case.

A day after Andhra Pradesh High Court transferred the case from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the ACB booked Pattabhirama Rao and others in a case in which former Karnataka minister Gali Janardhana Reddy was granted bail for bribe in an illegal mining case.

Those who have been booked are First Additional CBI Judge Pattabhirama Rao’s son Ravi Chandra, retired judge Chalapathi Rao, jailed former Karnataka minister Gali Janardhana Reddy’s brother Somasekhara Reddy and Suresh Babu, both legislators from Karnataka, rowdy sheeter Yadgiri of Hyderabad, Dasarathrami Reddy and a junior advocate.

The accused have been booked for corruption, cheating and criminal conspiracy under various sections of Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act.
ACB sources said its Central Investigation Unit would probe the case.

The high court had Friday transferred the case to ACB.

The CBI has been investigating the scam ever since it found that Pattabhirama Rao received a bribe of Rs.5 crore to grant bail to Janardhana Reddy. However, no arrest has been made in the case so far.

High Court Chief Justice Madan B. Lokur had May 31 suspended Pattabhirama Rao.
The CBI reportedly seized a part of the bribe money from bank lockers belonging to the suspended judge’s son.

The judge on May 11 had granted bail to Janardhana Reddy in the Obulapuram Mining Company case. He, however, remained in Bangalore jail as he is standing trial for another mining case in Karnataka.

The bail order was subsequently set aside by the high court.