‘Was collecting evidence on SC judge daughters’

NEW DELHI: A former Andhra Pradesh high court judge has filed a personal affidavit in the Supreme Court to admit that he was “trying to collect more evidence” on the alleged involvement of the daughters of a sitting top court judge in the Amaravati land scam.

The sitting SC judge, the leaked conversation and an FIR registered in connection with the Amaravati land cases, make it clear, is Justice NV Ramana.

Justice V Eswaraiah has filed his personal affidavit as part of his appeal against the Andhra Pradesh high court order to investigate an alleged phone conversation between him and a suspended judicial officer, which the HC had dubbed as a “serious conspiracy” to destablise the judiciary.

In his affidavit that will be examined by the Supreme Court on Monday, justice Eswaraiah, who retired as acting chief justice of the Andhra Pradesh HC in 2013, has submitted on oath to affirm that he indeed had a conversation with the suspended district munsif magistrate about the senior SC judge and then chief justice of the high court. “That the relatives of a senior sitting SC judge were involved in these transactions (Amaravati land deals) was the information I had received, and was trying to collect more evidence with regard to it,” stated the affidavit by the retired judge, who is presently the chairman of state’s higher education regulatory and monitoring commission.

“I sought information and material from Mr Ramakrishna (judicial officer) in that phone conversation with regard to benami transactions, involving the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) in Andhra Pradesh, and involvement of the relatives of the said Supreme Court judge,” read the affidavit, adding any inquiry into his personal chats will be violating his right to privacy.

Justice Eswaraiah said after this contentious conversation with the munsif magistrate on July 20 last year, an FIR was registered naming the two daughters of the sitting SC judge, Justice Ramana.

Justice Eswaraiah has filed his affidavit after an SC bench, headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan, directed him on January 11 to affirm it on oath that the voice in recorded conversation was his and he filed a correct transcript of the recording.