JOIN USSomashekara admits he bribed CBI judge
In a startling revelation to the CBI, Bellary city legislator G Somashekara Reddy confessed to have played an active role in the alleged pay-offs to secure bail for his brother and disgraced mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy.
In its remand report submitted to the court, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of the CBI quoted Somashekara Reddy as saying that of the Rs 9.5 crore paid to the accused, Rs 4.5 crore was arranged by Kampli MLA Suresh Babu, presently in jail and Janardhana Reddy’s personal assistant, Prakash.
His statement, however, contradicts Babu’s earlier confession that Somashekara Reddy sold gold bricks in Hyderabad, through a gold merchant from Bellary, to raise Rs 4.5 crore.
“Reddy did not reveal where the rest of the money paid to the accused came from,” ACB Deputy Superintendent of Police, T Raghupathi Goud, informed the court.
According to the remand report, Somashekara Reddy claimed to have met real estate agent Yadgiri Rao in May at advocate E Umamaheswar Rao’s office in Shanti Nagar, Hyderabad.
Rao had cited an earlier instance of him influencing judge T Pattabhi Rama Rao to secure bail for a police officer arrested on charges of corruption and claimed that he could do the same for Janardhana Reddy.
Rao subsequently approached retired judge T V Chalapathi Rao, who then spoke to Pattabhi Rama Rao.
After getting a nod from the CBI judge, Yadgiri Rao told Somashekara Reddy that the bail will cost him Rs 20 crore, Rs 5 crore each for Pattabhi Rama Rao, Chalapathi Rao and Yadgiri himself and the rest for “High Court expenditure,” the remand report said, adding that Somashekara Reddy had agreed to pay Rs 10 crore after the bail was granted and the rest after seeing the court order.
The report also said at 9:30 pm on May 11, 2012, hours after Pattabhi Rama Rao granted bail to Janardhan Reddy, Dasaratharami Reddy, a relative of Somashekara, handed over nine bags containing Rs 4.5 crore to Yadgiri Rao, at the Dasapalla hotel in Banjara Hills.
Though Yadagiri Rao called Somashekara Reddy for the remaining amount, he was told that since the CBI may file a petition in the High Court, the remaining sum will be paid after the petition was dismissed.
“A few days later, Dasaratharami Reddy told Somashekara that he paid another Rs 5 crore to Yadgiri Rao, taking the total amount to Rs 9.5 crore,” the report said.