A special court here on Tuesday remanded BJP legislator from Kampli in Karnataka, T.H. Suresh Babu, who was arrested here earlier in the day in the cash-for-bail scam case involving mining baron Gali Janardhan Reddy, for 14 days. He is the 10th accused to be arrested in the case so far.
He was sent to Charlapalli central prison soon after being remanded by the court even as he requested the judge to lodge him in Chanchalguda jail, where the former Minister Mr. Janardhan Reddy is lodged in the illegal mining case.
Before being produced in the Special Court for ACB & SPE Cases at 4.15 p.m., Mr. Suresh Babu was taken to Osmania General Hospital for medical examination. In its remand report submitted to the court, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), alleged: “Mr. Suresh Babu played an active role in the conspiracy for managing T. Pattabhirama Rao, the then First Additional Special Judge of the Special Court for CBI Cases, for granting bail to Mr. Janardhan Reddy.”
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Mr. Suresh Babu was charged under Sections 120B, 34, 109 and 219 of IPC and Sections 8, 9 and 13(1)(d) read with 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Before remanding the accused, Judge of the Special Court for ACB & SPE Cases S. Jagannadham, responding to a memo filed by Mr. Suresh Babu to lodge him in Chanchalguda, said that when the other accused in the case were lodged in Charlapalli, he (Suresh Babu) too should be taken there.
Mr. Suresh Babu told mediapersons before he was taken away by the police to Charlapalli that he was wrongly implicated in the case and the claim that he was arrested in Ashok Nagar here on Monday was also incorrect.
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It was he who went to the ACB office voluntarily in response to the notice served on him on July 24, he stated. “I am in no way connected with the bail scam and the confession report prepared by ACB is wrong,” he said.
Sriramulu’s role
Meanwhile, the ACB has revealed the alleged involvement of one more legislator from Karnataka, B. Sriramulu from Bellary Rural constituency.
In its remand report on the Kampli MLA, the ACB stated that apart from Mr. Suresh Babu, Mr. Sriramulu was also involved in the efforts to secure bail for Mr. Janardhan Reddy illegally.
The ACB explained that the investigation disclosed that Mr. Sriramulu informed Mr. Suresh Babu on April 21 about the efforts being made to secure bail for Mr. Janardhan Reddy by “managing” judges. During their conversation that day, Mr. Sriramulu told Mr. Suresh Babu that a person named R. Suryaprakash of Hyderabad, a mediator, knew some judges and was ready to help.
Mr. Suresh Babu was in constant touch with the mediator from April 21 to May 7, four days before Mr. Janardhan Reddy was granted bail. He was present when the first instalment of Rs. 4.5 crore was given to another mediator P. Yadagiri Rao, arrested in the case, on May 11, the ACB alleged.