ACB arrests Karnataka legislator
Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) sleuths on Monday arrested Kampli legislator T H Suresh Babu, an accused in the cash-for-bail scam, after six hours of grilling, said ACB Joint Director Sampath Kumar.
Sources said Babu will be produced before the ACB Special Court on Tuesday. The ACB has also summoned Bellary (urban) MLA Gali Somasekhara Reddy. The Karnataka MLAs were recently summoned by ACB for questioning for their alleged involvement in bribing the judges to secure bail for disgraced mining baron Gali Janardhan Reddy. So far, two cases have been registered in the case. However, Reddy has not been named accused in the second case.
Meanwhile, judge K Lakshmi Narasimha Rao, suspended for his alleged role in the scam, accused ACB Deputy Superintendent Srikrishnudu of manhandling him during investigation. He wrote to the chief justices of the Supreme Court and the AP High Court and chairman of the AP State Human Rights Commission seeking justice. He said the ACB was trying to shield Minister for law and courts, Erasu Pratap Reddy, though he was involved.
Rao said he was shocked to read his confession statement. “It came as a shock. In fact, the entire confession statement was false. It was cooked up by Srikrishnudu,’’ Rao said in his letter.
“Sampath Kumar had retired long ago but was reappointed. He is close to DGP V Dinesh Reddy who is a relative of the law minister. He has a vested interest in the matter and has been asked to investigate the case only to protect the law minister,” he said.
