Cash-for-bail: ACB files second chargesheet

Andhra Pradesh Anti-Corruption Bureau today filed a second chargesheet in the cash-for-bail scam case against seven persons including former Karnataka minister Gali Janardhan Reddy, two Karnataka MLAs and two suspended judges.

The chargesheet filed in the special ACB court here names two suspended district judges K Lakshminarasimha Rao and T Prabhakar Rao (now under judicial custody), who are accused of trying to bribe suspended CBI court judge T Pattabhirama Rao, to secure bail for the mining baron in the Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) case, a top ACB official supervising the cash-for-bail scam said.
Besides naming Reddy, the charge sheet also figures names of two Karnataka BJP legislators — Janardhan Reddy's brother and Bellary City MLA Gali Somashekhar Reddy and Kampli MLA T H Suresh Babu — and Reddy's relative Dasaratharam Reddy besides a realtor Suryaprakash Babu.
This chargesheet pertains to the second case registered by the ACB over attempts to bribe Pattabhirama Rao. The ACB had on August 13 filed its first charge sheet against him and seven others, for entering into a conspiracy to strike a bribe deal to facilitate bail for Janardhan Reddy.
Janardhan Reddy and others have been charged with criminal conspiracy and for accepting the bribe amount, ACB sources said, adding that it was Janardhan Reddy (during his mulaqat meetings when he was lodged at Chanchalguda Jail here) who allegedly told Somashekhar to try and secure bail for him at any cost.
Later, Somashekhar allegedly played a key role in the affair and 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 a retired judge T V Chalpathi Rao. The actual sum that changed hands was Rs 9.5 crore, the ACB said.
PTI