Bail-for-sale scam: Judge arrested for 5 crore bribe

Mangalore Today News Network/DHNS

Hyderabad, June 19, 2012: Pattabhi Rama Rao, a CBI judge who was suspended for allegedly accepting a bribe worth five crores to pass bail orders in favour of former Karnataka minister Gali Janardhana Reddy, has been arrested by the Anti-Corruption Bureau. Mr Reddy was arrested by the CBI in September last year in connection with an illegal mining case allegedly involving his Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC).

Mr Rao, who was the First Additional Special Judge in a CBI court in Hyderabad, was arrested from his residence this morning. He was suspended by the Andhra Pradesh High Court on May 31 amid allegations of illegal gratification and corruption against him.

The Anti-Corruption Bureau has also arrested two more people in the case now infamous as the cash-for-bail scam. On June 16, it took into custody retired judge TV Chalapathi Rao, said to be a long-time associate of Pattabhi Rama Rao, and also Ravichandra, the son of Pattabhi Rama Rao.

Mr Rao had granted conditional bail to the mining baron on May 11. Mr Reddy however did not walk out of jail because he was at that time in a Bangalore jail in connection with another illegal mining case allegedly involving Associated Mining Corporation (AMC) and Deccan Mining Syndicate (DMS). The two companies are owned by him and his wife Aruna Lakshmi.

Following a tip-off that there was a conspiracy to bribe the and get bail for Mr Reddy, the CBI conducted searches and recovered upto 1.6 crore rupees from five bank lockers belonging to Pattabhi Rama Rao. It also seized Rs. 1.1 crore from T Balaji Rao, the brother of retired judge TV Chalapathi Rao.

The investigating agency then lodged a complaint with the ACB on the June 8, saying that at least six people - including Gali Janardhana Reddy’s brother G Somashekhar Reddy, G Dasaratha Ram Reddy, TH Suresh Baabu, advocate T Aditya, retired judge TV Chalapathi Rao and judge Pattabhi Rama Rao - entered into a conspiracy to show favour and grant bail to Gali Janardhana Reddy. The accused were then booked under relevant sections of the Indian penal code (IPC) and Prevention of Corruption Act 1988.

The Andhra Pradesh High Court suspended Mr Reddy’s bail on May 23. A week later, it suspended Mr Rao.

Sources say incriminating material was reportedly found during the searches at Pattabhi Rama Rao and Chalapathi Rao’s residences in Hyderabad today.

Janardhana Reddy and his brother-in-law BV Srinivas Reddy, who is the managing director of OMC, were arrested on September 5, 2011 from Bellary in Karnataka and brought to Hyderabad. The CBI had filed a chargesheet against the Reddys and three others in December.

OMC is accused of changing mining lease boundary markings between Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka and indulging in illegal mining in the Bellary Reserve Forest areas, spread between Bellary district of Karnataka and Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh.