Rs 2.74cr seized from bank lockers
On June 7, the High Court registrar, vigilance, had written to the CBI asking it to move the state government to get approval under Sections 5 and 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act in the Gali Janardhan Reddy’s cash-for-bail case. The CBI was also asked to file a complaint with the ACB.
The CBI has also seized around Rs 2.74 crore from lockers in Corporation Bank and SBI in Secunderabad belonging to the middlemen, retired judge Chalapathi Rao and his brother Balaji Rao. In its complaint, the CBI has stated that Yadagiri had first contacted Mr Chalapathi Rao and advocate Aditya. Following this, Mr Somasekhara Reddy came into the picture and agreed to bring the money as per the deal. Five lockers were taken in Corporation Bank in Ashoknagar of which three didn’t have a name attached to them. The other two were in Mr Chalapathi Rao’s name. The lockers’ keys were handed over to Mr Pattabhi Rama’s son Ravi Chandra by Mr Chalapathi Rao.
CBI officials, who unearthed the cash-for-bail scam after tapping the accused’s phones, seized the five locker keys from Mr Ravi Chandra and found Rs 1.6 crore in them. CCTV Footage at the bank showed that Mr Somasekhara Reddy and others had been there and showed suitcases being taken to bank lockers. The CBI later searched the premises of Mr Chalapathi Rao’s brother Balaji Rao in Guntur district. Armed with information revealed during the search, they opened two more bank lockers in Secunderabad in which Rs 48.9 lakh and Rs 65.1 lakh were found. In his statement, Mr Balaji Rao told the CBI that he had deposited the money in the lockers at the behest of his brother Chalapathi Rao.
While Mr Chalapathi Rao had said that he had made the money in a real estate transaction, the CBI did not find any evidence of such a deal. Meanwhile, the other middleman Yadagiri confessed to the CBI that Mr Somasekhara Reddy had given him Rs 9.5 lakh as a “tip” for helping in the deal. Officials, did not seize any cash from Yadagiri.
The ACB has alleged that the transactions took place mostly on May 11 and 12 though the dealings had started in April. CBI found that Mr Chalapathi Rao had made calls to the judge and Mr Yadagiri had made calls to the judge’s son. The CBI also found that the judge’s son had visited the Corporation Bank on May 22 and had spoken to this father on that day.
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