Pattabhi took Chalapati offer
The deal for granting bail to mining scam accused Gali Janardhan Reddy was struck with history s h e e t e r - c u m- r e a l t o r Yadagiri Rao and Mr Chalapati Rao as middlemen for `5 crore.
In his confession, T. Ravi Chandra, son of T. Pattabhi Rama stated that his father had accepted the deal by Chalapathi Rao for `5 crore as it was less risky than the deal offered by Prabhakar Rao for `10 crore. “Pattabhi was my classmate in LLB. He was selected as munsif magistrate in 1987. I knew Yadagiri Rao, a resident of Nacharam, since November 2011. I have attended parties hosted by Yadagiri at his residence and was close to him,” Chalapathi Rao stated in his confession.
“In the first week of December 2011, Yadagiri approached me and asked me to convince Pattabhi, the then ACB judge, to grant bail to his friend Sarveshwar Reddy. Pattabhi accepted the offer and granted bail on December 13. Yadagiri Rao gave `10 lakh to him and `1 lakh to me.
“Pattabhi was transferred to the CBI court on April 23, 2012. On May 2, Yadagiri called me on my mobile and informed about Gali’s bail petition pending before the CBI court. He requested for bail promising huge amounts. I told Pattabhi that if bail was granted, Gali was ready to pay `10 crore. Pattabhi told me that our batchmate and judge Prabhakar Rao, who is working with the AP Election Commission, had also offered him huge amounts for granting bail to Gali but he had not obliged him… On May 6, Yadagiri offered `3 crore and then hiked it to `5 crore. I accepted the offer,” stated Rao.
“Pattabhi had said that Prabhakar Rao has pressurised him to take the offer of `10 crore for granting bail to Gali. He was also told to meet Gali's relatives to give them confidence. But I told him that for the `5 crore offer, he need not meet any relatives of Gali,” Rao stated, adding, “I called Pattabhi’s son Ravi Chandra to Masab Tank on May 10. At the same time Pattabhi called and accepted the offer of `5 crore for granting bail.” As part of the deal, Ravi Chandra was asked to meet Gali’s relatives.
“On May 11, the day of pronouncement of the order in the bail petition of Gali, Judge Pattabhi called me at 9.45 am and informed that he was going to grant bail to Gali and asked me to collect the `5 crore. I told him that the money was kept in bank lockers and the keys would be handed over after granting bail,” confessed Rao.