Bail scam: 2 judges in ACB custody

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The Anti-Corruption Bureau on Wednesday took two judges, K. Lakshminarasimha Rao and D. Prabhakar Rao into custody in the Gali Janardhan Reddy cash-for-bail scam after booking a separate case. Lakshminarasimha Rao, chief judge for the small causes court in Hyderabad, was suspended earlier in the day by the AP High Court and taken into custody here. Prabhakar Rao, posted to Srikakulam and suspended last week, was brought by road to the capital by the ACB. They are likely to be arrested. It is been alleged that the judges had offered Rs10 crore to CBI judge T. Pattabhi Rama Rao for granting bail to the mining baron.

Searches were conducted at the residences of Lakshminarasimha Rao at Hyderguda and Prabhakar Rao at West Marredpally. Laptops, hard disks and computers were seized. ACB director-general B. Prasada Rao said that during examination, Pattabhi Rama Rao had revealed that Prabhakar Rao had contacted him from April 27 to May 1 with an offer of Rs10 crore for granting bail to Gali Janardhan Reddy. But Rama Rao refused the offer. He said investigations had also revealed the involvement of realtor Ravi Surya Prakash Babu, who was arrested on Tuesday.

Realtor set up meet between Gali kin, Judge
During interrogation in the cash-for-bail scam, realtor Ravi Surya Prakash Babu revealed that he had mediated between the mining baron’s relatives Gali Somasekhar Reddy and Dashrathram Reddy, and judge Lakshminarasimha Rao (who was arrested on Wednesday) and had arranged a meeting between them at Necklace Road.

Following this, Lakshminarasimha Rao called Prabhakar Rao to his house and in the presence of realtor Babu had persuaded him to meet Rama Rao with the Rs 10-crore offer. "We are questioning Lak-shminarasimha Rao and Prabhakar Rao has been asked to come to ACB for further questioning,” said the ACB director-general.

The realtor came in touch with Mr Somasekhar Reddy and Mr Dasarathram Reddy in the real estate business and with judge Lakshminarasimha Rao through an advocate. ACB officials are verifying the suspects’ accounts to probe if any advance was paid. The police has booked a separate case against jud-ge Prabhakar Rao and others in addition to the existing scam case.