TH Suresh Babu, MLA from Kampli in Karnataka, had promised mining baron Gali Janardhan Reddy that he would, with the assistance of former Karnataka minister Sriramulu, convince judges to grant him bail, and he kept his word.
He confessed to Anti-Corruption Bureau officials that he had, along with Janardhan Reddy’s brothers, Somasekhara Reddy and Dasaratharami Reddy, offered Rs 20 crore as bribe for the purpose. He offered the bribe to history sheeter Yadagiri and judges as per the directions of Sriramulu.
Suresh Babu, who had played an active role in the bail scam, was arrested by ACB officials and produced in court on Tuesday.
In his confessional statement, Suresh Babu said that during the conversation that took place between Janardhan Reddy and him at the jail, he promised to try his best to get Janardhan Reddy out on bail and therefore hatched a plan to offer bribes to the judges. He met realtor Ravi Surya Prakash Babu, suspended judge K Lakshmi Narasimha Rao, and another suspended judge D Prabhakar Rao, who are close friends and batchmates of T Pattabhirama Rama Rao in a hostel, and fine-tuned the plan.
“Discussions were held with Nacharam history sheeter P Yadagiri Rao at Dasapalla Hotel. Yadagiri Rao said that if they were ready to give Rs 5 crore to the then CBI court judge T Pattabhirama Rao, `5 crore to retired TV Chalapathi Rao, Rs 5 crore to Yadagiri Rao and Rs 5 crore towards court expenses, then he would manage judges to give bail to Janardhan Reddy,’’ Suresh Babu said.
Somasekhara Reddy agreed to the demand but wanted an assurance that Pattabhirama Rao would deliver. To give the clients confidence, the judge’s son, T Ravichandra, was brought to Masab Tank for a rendezvous but he did not get to meet the Gali team.
It was then agreed that Rs 10 crore would be given after bail was granted and the balance upon seeing the order copy. After the bail was granted on May 11, Somasekhara Reddy coughed up Rs 9 crore. Yadagiri Rao went to the hotel and collected the money in nine bags. Suresh Babu accompanied Yadagiri Rao to the bank at Ashoknagar here where the money was deposited in the judge’s accounts. Pattabhirama Rao granted bail to Janardhan Reddy on May 31.
With the arrest of Suresh Babu here on Monday, the ACB has so far arrested nine persons, including three serving judges and a retired judge, in connection with the case.