HYDERABAD: A day after registering a case against the first additional metropolitan sessions court judge S Radhakrishna Murty following directions of the High Court, the ACB on Friday arrested the Judge as well as two advocates on charges of corruption. The three were produced before the court and remanded to 14 days judicial custody. All the three were shifted to the Chanchalguda Central Prison.
The HC ordered a probe against the Judge following a complaint by practising advocate T Sriranga Rao that Radhakrishna Murthy accepted Rs 7.50 lakh to grant bail to an accused in a NDPS case. During the probe, it came to light that the deal was stuck by two advocates — K Srinivasa Rao and G Satish Kumar — and cases were registered against all the three under provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
The ACB officials on Friday conducted raids on the residences of Judge and the two advocates, and seized incriminatory material and mobile phones from the advocates. This is third arrest of a Judge in recently. Earlier, two judges, M Gandhi, labour court judicial officer and S Madhu, junior civil judge, Jagtial, were arrested on corruption charges.
Meanwhile, in Friday’s raids, the sleuths found documents of 13 house plots in the city, two agri lands in Toopran and Shameerpet, a three-storeyed house at Alwal, two four-wheelers, 33 tolas of gold, Rs 50,000 cash, and a bank locker key. The document value of these is around `1 crore.
A chink in Judiciary?
March 17: ACB registered cases on Mallampati Gandhi, presiding officer (judicial officer), Labour Court-I, Nampally and unearthed properties worth Rs 3.57 crore
April 6: ACB arrested the first additional junior civil judge, Jagtial, S Madhu, for allegedly forcing two advocates to pay Rs 60,000 as bribe to acquit their clients.