The Anti Corruption Bureau in Andhra Pradesh has arrested Chalapati Rao, a retired judge, and Ravichandar, son of suspended Central Bureau of investigation court judge Pattabhi Rama Rao in the Gali Janardhan Reddy bail-for-cash case.
The ACB, which has already booked case against nine people including the suspended judge and Reddy's brother Gali Somashekhar, on Saturday, raided the residence of Rao in Hyderabad and Chalapati in Chilkaluripet in Guntur district.
A team of CBI officials was already in Bellary to carry out the search at the Gali family's residence and other related places.
The CBI, which had exposed the payment of bribe of Rs 10 crore to the CBI special court judge for granting bail to Reddy in the illegal mining case, has transferred the case to the ACB for further investigations.
The Andhra Pradesh high court chief justice had put a Rao under suspension after the CBI complaint that the judge had taken a bribe to grant bail to Gali Janardhan Reddy, the prime accused in the illegal mining and export of iron ore in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh. The high court has also quashed the bail granted by the CBI court.
After conducting the search at the house of Patthabi Rama Rao, the ACB officials took Ravichand to a bank in Ashoknagar where he had kept the ill-gotten cash. The investigating agencies have already seized Rs 5.5 crore.
The CBI had earlier said that Gali's brother had secured the services of a Yadgiri, a criminal, and the retired judge to reach Rao to get the bail for Reddy. The CBI said that Ravichand was the middle man in striking the deal on behalf of his father.
The CBI unearthed the sordid details of the bail-for-cash scam when it tapped the phone of the judge with the permission of the high court.
