Cash-for-bail scam: Sreeramulu appears before ACB

Hyderabad: BSR Congress founder B Sreeramulu on Tuesday appeared before the Andhra Pradesh Anti-Corruption Bureau on Hyderabad in connection with the ongoing probe in the cash-for-bail scandal involving jailed former Karnataka minister Gali Janardhan Reddy.

Sreeramulu, a Bellary (Rural) MLA and close associate of Janardhan Reddy, was served notice by the ACB which sought to record his statement in connection with the bail scandal case.

In its remand report submitted in a court after arresting BJP's Kampli MLA TH Suresh Babu in the case on July 31, the ACB had claimed that probe had revealed that Sreeramulu had called up his nephew Suresh Babu on April 21 and informed that one R Suryaprakash Babu of Hyderabad knew some judges and was ready to help in the matter of getting bail for Janardhan Reddy, and that he had already asked Suryaprakash to call him.

He was summoned by the ACB in connection with the probe in the cash-for-bail scandal involving Gali Janardhan Reddy.

Apart from Suresh Babu, the ACB has also arrested Janardhan Reddy's brother and Bellary City MLA Gali Somashekhar Reddy, who, along with others, is accused of striking a deal and bribing suspended judge T Pattabhirama Rao in securing bail for the mining baron.

On May 11, Pattabhirama Rao granted bail to Janardhan Reddy while rejecting the bail plea of suspended IAS officer Y Srilakshmi in connection with the Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) scam.

Amid allegations of illegal gratification and corruption against Pattabhirama Rao, the Andhra Pradesh High Court suspended him on May 31 while transferring the case to ACB, after it was first cracked by CBI.

The ACB, which filed a charge sheet in the case, has so far arrested three serving judges including Pattabhirama, besides eight others in the case.

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