After three months in judicial custody, Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) secretary A Rajamma Chowdareddy was granted bail on Wednesday. The Lokayukta special court granted her bail as Lokayukta police failed to file the charge sheet within the stipulated 90 days.
The High Court on June 6 had rejected her bail application with a direction to approach the trial court after the chargesheet was filed. A senior Lokayukta police official said that charge sheet could not be filed since request for prosecution sanction order (PSO) was pending with the government.
Rajamma Chowdareddy was arrested while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs seven lakh at BDA office on April 25. The complaint was that Parvathamma and Nagendra, both residents of Vadagerahalli near Sahakaranagar, had been waiting for four sites each as a compensation for parting with their land. However, Chowdareddy allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 10 lakh and later scaled down the demand to Rs seven lakh.
The Lokayukta police laid a trap and arrested Chowdareddy. Police later seized Rs 44 lakh in cash from her house in Koramangala during a search the next day. Apart from the cash at the house, police had seized jewellery worth Rs 35 lakh, property documents and Rs 2.3 lakh in cash from her office.
Lokayukta special court on May 3 had rejected her bail application on the grounds that huge cash was found at her house. Her petition before the High Court was also rejected on the ground that the investigation was still on.
“The investigation has been completed in the case and request for PSO was sent to the government last week. Once the PSO is accorded, charge sheet will be filed in the case,” official said.
BDA officials get bail
Lokayukta special court has granted bail to seven persons arrested by the Lokayukta police during a surprise search at Bangalore Development Authority office on June 20. The accused, Additional Land Acquisition Officer G R Harishilpa, surveyor M M Gangadhar, Junior Engineer Hiranaiah, Record Room in- charge Srinivas and private persons G M Deepak, C Shankar and D N Subramanya Kumar were granted bail on Wednesday.
The Lokayukta police had raided the BDA office and seized unaccounted money with the accused persons. On credible information that private agents have access to the original files, a surprise raid was conducted.
