Mediator received Rs.9.5 crore to arrange bail for Reddy

 A rowdy sheeter arrested in cash-for-bail scam involving former Karnataka minister Gali Janardhana Reddy received Rs.9.5 crore as advance for a deal between Reddy's relatives and judge T. Pattabhirama Rao, police said Tuesday.

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) informed the court that P. Yadagiri Rao, who was arrested Monday, was instrumental in mediating the deal for bail to Reddy in Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) case.

The ACB, in its remand report, said Yadagiri received the cash from Reddy's relatives and distributed part of it among the accused.

The ACB seized Rs.3.75 crore from the house of Yadagiri at Nacharam in Hyderabad.

He told the ACB that he handed over Rs.3 crore to T.V. Chalapathi Rao, a former district judge and an accused in the case, and also bought a land worth Rs.60 lakh and a car worth Rs.8.10 lakh.

Chalapti Rao, suspended judge T. Pattabhirama Rao and his son Ravichandra are already in judicial custody.

The ACB has also seized Rs.1.60 crore in cash from five bank lockers belonging to Ravichandra and Rs.1.14 crore from Chalapathi Rao's brother Balaji Rao.

The ACB court Tuesday extended till July 13 the judicial custody of Pattabhirama Rao. The hearing on his bail petition and also those of his son Ravichandra and Chalapathi Rao was adjourned to Wednesday.

The agency June 9 booked eight people in the case. Janardhana Reddy's brother G.
Somasekhara Reddy and T.H. Suresh Babu, both legislators in Karnataka, his relative G. Dasrathram Reddy and junior advocate T. Aditya are yet to be arrested.

The Andhra Pradesh High Court May 31 suspended Pattabhirama Rao after the Central Bureau of Investigation conducted preliminary investigations.

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