Justice Bhaskar Rao gets conditional bail

A special Lokayukta court on Saturday granted conditional bail to former Lokayukta Justice Y Bhaskar Rao in the corruption and extortion case. Lokayukta court judge D T Devendra granted bail to Justice Rao on condition that he does not influence the witnesses in the case.
 
The Special Investigation Team (SIT), which had probed the cases of extortion and corruption within the Lokayukta institution, had filed an additional charge sheet naming Justice Rao as an accused. Earlier, the SIT had filed the main charge sheet in the first case, pertaining to extortion and demanding bribe from M N Krishnamurthy, former executive engineer, zilla panchayat (Bengaluru Urban).

Justice Rao’s son Yerabati Ashwin and former Lokayukta public relations officer Syed Riyaz are the prime accused in this case. In the additional charge sheet, Justice Rao was named accused number seven in the case. The SIT has pressed charges of abetment, destroying of evidence and attempting to protect his son Ashwin, who ran the extortion racket from both the office and the residence of the Lokayukta. The special court directed Justice Rao to produce Rs 1 lakh bond and a surety.