Andhra CBI judge Rao held for cash for bail

A suspended CBI judge in Hyderabad on Tuesday morning has been arrested by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) for his alleged involvement in the Cash-for-bail case.

He is an accused for granting bail to former Karnataka Minister Gali Janardhana Reddy who was behind the bar on the charges of being involved in illegal mining case.

According to sources, the ACB officials arrested him from his residence in the posh Banajara Hills neighborhood here and took him to ACB headquarters where ACB amy produced him before the court today.

First Additional CBI judge Pattabhirama Rao was suspended May 31 after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) found that he took bribe for granting bail to Janardhana Reddy in an illegal mining case.

He allegedly granted bail in a Rs.5 crore deal with the relatives of Janardhana Reddy. The suspended judge was arrested three days after son Ravichandra and retired district judge T. V. Chalapati Rao were taken into custody.

According to ACB officials, Rs.1.60 crore cash was recovered from five bank lockers belonging to Ravichandra and Rs 1.14 crore recovered from Chalapati Rao's brother Balaji Rao.

The ACB had earlier arrested Yadgiri, a thug in Nalgonda district. Pattabhirama Rao and seven others including Janardhana Reddy's brothers Somasekhara Reddy and Suresh Babu, both legislators from Karnataka, were booked by the ACB after the case was transferred to it June 8.

The judge granted bail May 11 to Janardhana Reddy. The bail order was last week set aside by the high court.