‘Janardhana Reddy wanted bail at any cost’

Hyderabad : Former Karnataka minister Gali Janardhana Reddy, currently in jail in illegal mining case, wanted to come out on bail at “any cost”, revealed his relative Dasaradharami Reddy, who was arrested Sunday in cash-for-bail scam.

In his statement before the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), he said the mining baron was ready to offer any sum of money to bribe the judge for bail.

Dasaradharami Reddy told the ACB officials that Janardhana Reddy asked him to do anything to get him bail. The conspiracy for bribing the judge was hatched in jail, said ACB sources.

K. Lakshmi Narasimha Rao, one of the three judges arrested in the cash-for-bail case, has already claimed that Janardhana Reddy’s relatives offered Rs.100 crore for the bail.

Chief judge of city small causes court Narasimha Rao along with district and sessions judge D. Prabhakar Rao and a realtor Ravi Surya Prakash Babu tried to have a deal with CBI judge Pattabhirama Rao but he rejected the offer.

Pattabhirama Rao, however, accepted the offer which came through his friend and retired judge T.V. Chalapathi Rao.

Dasaradharami Reddy along with Janardhana Reddy’s brother Somasekhara Reddy and Karnataka legislator T. H. Suresh Babu allegedly paid Rs.10 crore to the judge through a man with a criminal record.

The ACB has already issued lookout notices for both Somasekhara Reddy and Suresh Babu to prevent them from fleeing the country.

Pattabhirama Rao, his son Ravichandra, retired judge T. V. Chalapathi Rao, rowdy sheeter Yadgiri Rao, junior lawyer Aditya and Dasaradharami Reddy were arrested in the main case

Narasimha Rao, Prabhakar Rao and Surya Prakash Babu have been arrested for offering bribe.

In a related development, Narasimha Rao has alleged that he was made a scapegoat to save state Law Minister E. Pratap Reddy in the case. In a letter to state human rights commission, high court and the Supreme Court, he accused a ACB official of trying to implicate him in the “false” case.

The high court on May 31 suspended Pattabhirama Rao, who had granted bail to Janardhana Reddy on May 11. The bail orders were later struck down by the high court.

The two other judges arrested in the case have also been suspended.

Janardhana Reddy is currently lodged in Bangalore jail as he is standing trial another mining case in Karnataka.