HYDERABAD JUDGE HELD FOR GRAFT

HYDERABAD: A judge in Telangana’s Ranga Reddy district court was arrested on Thursday for possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income after a series of raids by the state anti-corruption bureau, according to a statement issued by the latter.

Hyderabad Police produced V Vara Prasad, 14th additional magistrate in Ranga Reddy district court at LB Nagar, before the same court, which remanded him to judicial custody for 14 days. He was taken to Chanchalguda jail immediately.

“The judge was found to be in possession of assets, whose market value is more than ~3 crore, which is disproportionate to his known sources of income,” the bureau added in its statement.

The bureau statement said a case under the relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act had been registered against the judge. The raids, which began on Wednesday morning, went on till the early hours of Thursday, when Prasad was arrested.

The searches took place in Telangana and Maharashtra. The court earlier issued orders to the bureau to register a disproportionate assets case against Prasad after a preliminary enquiry into a complaint against him.

Prasad is the fifth judge in Telangana to face an ACB probe of disproportionate assets this year.

In April, a district judge in Mahbubnagar, Kolla Ranga Rao, was suspended, following charges of corruption. In the same month, the court suspended a Hyderabad metropolitan sessions court judge, S Radhakrishna Murthy, following raids by the ACB. Another junior civil judge, S Madhu , in Jagitial district court was also suspended following a complaint that he was taking bribes. In March, judge M Gandhi of a labour court in Hyderabad was suspended following ACB raids.