Arrested in the cash-for-bail case, Judge K. Lakshmi Narasimha Rao has alleged that the Anti-Corruption Bureau was trying to water down the main case, that of taking cash for granting bail to mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy.
He also alleged that two witnesses in the secondary case that had been filed by the ACB had been kept in illegal custody for eight days and their statements (164 CrPC before a magistrate) were taken under duress, by threatening arrest. Mr Rao said that the illegal custody would come to light if the mobile phone tower locations were enquired.
Mr Lakshmi Narasimha Rao alleged that investigations in the case appeared to be skewed towards protecting vested interests and diluting the main issue wherein money was recovered and a positive case made from May 2, 2012.
ACB has so far registered two cases in the cash-for-bail scam; one is the main case against CBI special judge Pattabhi Rama Rao and others and the second against another group which had also attempted to bribe the judge.
The statement of Mr Lakshmi Narasimha Rao, who was arrested in the second case, was recorded by ACB director Mr B. Shivadhar Reddy. In his statement, the suspended chief judge alleged, “I stand by the reasons mentioned in the complaint addressed to the ACB DG creating suspicion about the whole episode and the investigation process in the case.”
“ACB registered this suo motu case and later searched for evidence by keeping persons in illegal lockup for days together and the total investigation is biased.”
“Krishna Prasad and Venkateswara Rao were kept in unlawful custody by the ACB in the name of interrogation for more than eight days and their 164 statements were forcibly obtained by putting them under the fear of arrest,” he added.
He also alleged that realtor R. Surya Prakash, who has been arrested and is accused number 2 in the case, was also kept in illegal detention for about six days. “If we locate the cell phone towers of Surya Prakash’s mobile it will clearly be proved that he was illegally kept in ACB custody for six days from July 5 to July 10. I haven’t made any confession and I didn’t admit any offence nor pleaded any pardon and the confession statement is totally false and not binding upon me,” he stated, adding, “Every attempt has been made to screen the persons whose names have already been mentioned in the confessions recorded in the main case.”
He said he had sent representations to various agencies seeking investigations by the CBI as the ACB’s probe was “one-sided, hostile and biased towards me”. “I have been a judge for 27 years and due to sudden shock I went into depression when I was brought to jail at Charlapalli,” he added.