Cash-for-bail: Chargesheet against suspended judge

The Andhra Pradesh Anti-Corruption Bureau on Monday filed a chargesheet against suspended judge T Pattabhirama Rao and seven others, including two Karnataka members of legislative Assembly, in the cash-for-bail case involving former Karnataka minister Gali Janardhan Reddy.

The chargesheet was filed in the special ACB court in Hyderabad, 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 the Central Bureau of Investigation court, granted bail to Janardhan Reddy while refusing the same relief to suspended Indian Administrative Service officer Y Srilakshmi in the Obulapuram Mining Company case.

Amid allegations of bribe-taking against judge Rao, the 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 Bharatiya Janata Party 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.