T H Suresh Babu, BJP MLA from Kampli, had promised mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy that he would convince judges to secure his bail with the help of former Karnataka minister Sriramulu. And he kept his word.
Babu confessed to Anti-Corruption Bureau officials who are investigating cash-for-bail case that he, along with Janardhana Reddy’s brother Somasekhara Reddy and his relative Dasaratharami Reddy, had offered Rs 20 crore as bribe to judges. He offered the bribe to history-sheeter Yadagiri Rao and judges on the directions of Sriramulu. Babu was arrested by the ACB officials on Monday, and produced in court on Tuesday.
He told them that during a conversation between Janardhana Reddy and him in the jail, he promised to take all efforts to get Reddy out on bail. He met realtor Ravi Surya Prakash Babu, suspended judge K Lakshmi Narasimha Rao and another suspended judge D Prabhakar Rao, who are close friends of T Pattabhirama Rao, in a hotel and fine-tuned the plan.
“Discussions were held with Yadagiri Rao at Dasapalla Hotel. Yadagiri Rao said if they were ready to give Rs 5 crore to Pattabhirama Rao, Rs 5 crore to retired judge T V Chalapathi Rao, Rs 5 crore to himself and Rs 5 crore towards court expenses, then he would manage to secure bail to Janardhana Reddy,” Babu said. With Suresh Babu, the ACB has arrested nine persons, including three serving judges and a retired judge, in connection with the case.