Andhra Pradesh High Court Chief Justice Madan B Lokur on Thursday suspended a CBI Special Judge on corruption charges and ordered an inquiry against him, the officials said here.
Sending shockwaves across the judiciary, first additional CBI judge T Pattabhirama Rao is alleged to have accepted `2 crore from aides of mining scam suspect Gali Janardhan Reddy to grant him bail on May 11.
Though the deal was allegedly struck at `5 crore, unconfirmed reports suggested it was as high as `10 crore. With the CBI nailing the judge, a case is likely to be registered, and his arrest appears imminent.
Apart from Pattabhirama Rao, his son, a retired judge, a politician and a rowdy-sheeter are said to have played key roles in striking the deal on behalf of Gali.
As speculation mounted over the role of law minister Erasu Pratap Reddy in the episode, he denied any wrongdoing while confirming that he is indeed a relative of Gali and DGP V Dinesh Reddy.
Top sources disclosed to Express that when a CBI team led by its joint director V V Lakshminarayana went to the house of Pattabhirama Rao to probe the case, and asked him for the keys to his bank lockers, the judge was taken aback. “What keys? What are you talking about?’’ he reportedly asked. The CBI team told Rao about the deal he had allegedly struck with Gali and that the money had been received by his son. After resisting the CBI initially, the judge handed over the keys.
Sources said it was the casual use of his mobile phone that did the judge in. Over the past two weeks, CBI personnel had been monitoring the phones of the judge, his son, a retired judge and a few others. This led to the recovery of nearly `2 crore in cash from five different lockers from a bank at Ashok Nagar, Hyderabad.
Around the time Gali’s bail plea was being heard, the CBI smelt something fishy though there was no specific input about any wrongdoing. Gali was granted conditional bail on May 11.
