Judge T Pattabhirama Rao charged with taking bribe for granting bail to Gali faces arrest

HYDERABAD: The CBI is proceeding to launch criminal proceedings on suspended CBI first additional special judge T Pattabhirama Rao who was charged with taking bribe as a quid pro quo for granting bail to mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy in the illegal mining case involving his Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC). The CBI is likely to arrest the judge in the case.
Following some credible information, the CBI sleuths zeroed in on the bank account held by Pattabhi’s son and seized an amount of Rs 3 crore in the Ashok Nagar branch of Bank of Baroda.The CBI officials also identified the role of a retired district judge who allegedly acted as a conduit between Gali and Pattabhirama Rao. The roles played by Gali’s brother Somasekhara Reddy and a rowdy sheeter Yadagiri from Nacharam too came to the fore during the probe into the affair. According to CBI sources, an amount of Rs 10 crore was earmarked for getting bail and out of this Rs 6 crore was pocketed by middleman Yadagiri.
While unconfirmed reports hinted at the involvement of a minister in the Kiran cabinet and a legislator from Karnataka in the deal that was struck between the judge and Gali, the CBI sources termed it as baseless.
The high court launched a separate inquiry cum disciplinary proceedings on the disgraced judge. In all, Gali had applied for bail on four occasions before he was finally granted the same by Pattabhirama Rao on May 11, 2012.