Andhra Pradesh's Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) Monday filed a charge sheet in the cash-for-bail case involving former Karnataka minister and mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy.
Suspended CBI judge T. Pattabhirama Rao and retired judge T. V. Chalapathi Rao are among eight accused figured in the 40-page charge sheet submitted to the ACB court.
Janardhana Reddy's brother Gali Somasekhara Reddy, Suresh Babu - both legislators in Karnataka, Babu's relative Dasaradharami Reddy, Pattabhirama Rao's son Ravichandra, criminal Yadagiri Rao and a junior lawyer Aditya are the other accused named in the charge sheet.
Pattabhirama Rao had granted bail to Janardhana Reddy in illegal mining case for a huge bribe in May this year. The investigations by the ACB revealed that Janardhana Reddy's relatives paid Rs.10 crore to the judge and the other accused.
All the eight accused named in the charge sheet have already been arrested by the ACB and they are all lodged in Cherlapally Jail here.
The ACB submitted to the court the statements by 50 witnesses in the case. The accused have been charged under various sections of Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act.
The Andhra Pradesh High Court had suspended Pattabhirama Rao after preliminary probe by the CBI established that he received the bribe.
The ACB, which subsequently took up investigations, also booked a separate case against three accused including two judges for trying to bribe the CBI judge.
Chief judge of city small causes court K. Lakshmi Narasimha Rao, district and sessions judge D. Prabhakar Rao and realtor Ravi Surya Prakash Babu are also in jail on charges of approaching Pattabhirama Rao with the bribe offer on behalf of Janardhana Reddy's family.
Pattabhirama Rao had rejected the offer but later accepted the one which came through his friend Chalapathi Rao.