Just who blew the whistle on the ‘cash-for-bail’ scam which has landed eleven people, including two legislators and four judges, in a soup?
It was one of the judges who was contacted by former tourism minister Gali Janardhan Reddy’s younger sibling Gali Somasekhar Reddy and relative Dasarath Ram Reddy with an astounding `100-crore offer for the bail. The duo reportedly spoke to K. Lakshminarasimha Rao, then serving as registrar of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, on April 13 through a realtor, P. Krishna Prasad. Mr Rao in turn contacted another judge, Mr D. Prabhakar Rao, a batch-mate of the judge of CBI court, Mr K. Pattabhi Rama Rao.
Sources in the Anti-corruption Bureau (ACB) of Andhra Pradesh said Mr Pattabhi Rama Rao spurned the offer made through these two judges, but relented when another group of negotiators met him along with rowdy-sheeter turned realtor P. Yadagiri Rao and retired judge T.V. Chalapathi Rao with an offer of `5 crore.
When Mr Pattabhi Rama Rao granted bail to Mr Janardhan Reddy, the other judges were convinced it was through the `100 crore-deal and demanded he split the bribe with them. They reportedly tipped off the local office of CBI through an anonymous source when Mr Pattabhi Rama Rao and his son Ravi Chandra declined to give them their share of the bribe, sources told Deccan Chronicle.