Arrested judge alleges 2 witnesses held illegally
Judge K. Lakshmi Narasimha Rao, arrested in the cash-for-bail case, alleged that the Anti-Corruption Bureau was trying to water down the main case, that of taking cash for granting bail to mining baron Gali Janardhan Reddy. He also alleged that two witnesses in the secondary case that had been filed by the ACB had been kept in illegal custody for eight days and their statements (164 CrPC before a magistrate) were taken under duress, by threatening arrest. Narasimha Rao alleged that the probe in the case appeared to be skewed towards protecting vested interests and diluting the main issue wherein money was recovered and a case made from May 2, 2012. In his statement, the judge alleged, “I stand by the reasons mentioned in the complaint addressed to the ACB DG creating suspicion about the whole episode and the investigation process which is a brainchild of the ACB.
“ACB registered this suo motu case and later searched for evidence by keeping persons in illegal lockup for days together and the probe is biased.” “Krishna Prasad and Venkateswara Rao were kept in unlawful custody in the name of interrogation and their 164 statements were forcibly obtained by putting them under the fear of arrest,” he added. He also alleged that realtor R. Surya Prakash, who has been arrested and is accused number 2 in the case, was also kept in illegal detention for about six days.
“If we locate the cellphone towers of Surya Prakash’s mobile it will clearly be proved that he was illegally kept in ACB custody for six days from July 5 to July 10. I haven’t confessed or admitted to any offence nor pleaded any pardon. The confession statement is false and not binding on me,” he stated, adding, “Every attempt was made to screen the persons whose names have already been mentioned in the confessions recorded in the main case.”
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