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Hyderabad, Jul 12 (PTI): The Andhra Pradesh government’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Thursday arrested two serving judges for their alleged role in the case involving former Karnataka minister Gali Janardhana Reddy, a mining baron accused in the illegal mining case.
D Prabhakar Rao, a Family Court-cum-3rd Additional district and sessions judge of Srikakulam, and K Lakshminarasimha Rao, chief judge of the city small causes court, were arrested by the agency from their respective residences in the city.
The Andhra Pradesh high court had suspended Prabhakar Rao last week. Lakshminarasimha Rao was suspended on Wednesday after the ACB sleuths conducted searches at his house. His name had cropped up during interrogation of one of the arrested accused in the case.
Prabhakar Rao is the seventh person and the third serving judge to be netted by the ACB which took over the probe last month on direction of the High Court after the CBI had exposed an alleged 'deal' of Rs 10 crore for granting bail to the mining baron.
The ACB is a specialised agency that functions under the general administration department of the state.
Earlier, First Additional Special Judge for CBI cases T Patattabhirama Rao and retired judge T V Chalapathi Rao had been arrested for their alleged role in the case.
Both Lakshminarasimha Rao and Prabhakar Rao would be produced in the ACB court later in the day, an ACB official said.
Prabhakar Rao, who worked as Secretary (Legal) in Andhra Pradesh State Election Commission, had allegedly contacted T Pattabhirama Rao for facilitating bail to Reddy, an accused in the Oblapuram Mining Company (OMC) case.
The High Court has so far suspended these three judges in connection with the cash-for-bail scam.
T Pattabhirama Rao and seven others have been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for criminal conspiracy and criminal misconduct.
The ACB has also arrested Ravichandra, son of T Pattabhirama Rao, Yadagiri Rao alias Yadagiri, and realtor Ravi Suryapprakash Babu.
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