Cash-for-bail: Chargesheet against suspended judge, others

The chargesheet was filed in the special ACB court here, an official said.

According to ACB, Rao and others entered into a conspiracy to facilitate bail to Janardhan Reddy.

When asked if Janardhan Reddy himself figures in the chargesheet, the ACB official refused to comment.

The case was exposed by CBI in May after Pattabhirama Rao, additional special judge for CBI court, granted bail to Janardhan Reddy while refusing the same relief to suspended IAS officer Y Srilakshmi in the Obulapuram Mining Company case.

Amid allegations of bribe-taking against judge Rao, Andhra Pradesh High Court suspended him on May 31, and transferred the case to ACB. The HC also cancelled Reddy's bail.

 

ACB has so far arrested three serving judges including Pattabhirama, besides eight others, in two cases related to the scandal.

The arrested persons include two BJP legislators from Karnataka: Janardhan Reddy's brother and Bellary City MLA Gali Somashekhar Reddy and Kampli MLA T H Suresh Babu. Retired judge T V Chalpathi Rao, Pattabhirama's son Ravi Chander, Dasaratha Ram Reddy (Reddy's relative) and Yadagiri Rao, a known criminal, were also arrested.

Somashekhar, who allegedly played a key role in the affair, had struck a deal for Rs 20 crore with Yadagiri Rao in order to secure bail. Following which, Yadagiri, on May 10, arranged a meeting between Pattabhirama's son and Chalpathi Rao. The actual sum that changed hands was Rs 9.5 crore, ACB says.

Janardhan Reddy, arrested from Bellary last year by the CBI in the OMC illegal mining case, is now in a prison in Bangalore in connection with another mining-related case.