YADAGIRI ARRESTED, CBI SEIZES `3.75 CR

The Anti-corruption Bureau on Monday arrested row-dysheeter-cum-realtor Yadagiri Rao in the cash-for-bail case. He was allegedly one of the middlemen who brokered the deal between jailed former Karnataka minister Gali Janardhan Reddy’s family and CBI special judge Pattabhi Rama Rao, who had granted bail to the mining baron. ACB officials also seized `3.75 crore from Yadagiri’s residence at Nacharam and a Maruti Swift which he had brought from the bribe money.

Yadagiri, 40, had been on the run for the past one month after he was named in the scam FIR. Investigators said he had been moving between Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala to evade the ACB net.

After the arrest of rowdysheeter Yadagiri Rao in the cash-for-bail scam on Monday, ACB director-general B. Prasada Rao said, “Based on his confession that he had received cash from MLA Gali Somasekhar Reddy, Dasharata Ram Reddy and others for the bail of Gali Janardhan Reddy, we seized the cash from his house.”

Yadagiri had confessed that he had been paid `9.5 crore by Somasekhar Reddy. “Out of this, he paid `3 crore as advance to retired judge T.V. Chalapathi Rao on May 11. He bought a Maruti Swift in Secunderabad for `8.1 lakh and a plot adjacent to his house for `40 lakh. He also paid `20 lakh for the purchase of a house at Nacharam,” Mr Rao said. Yadagiri was produced before an ACB judge on Monday evening.

The ACB had registered a case against CBI special judge T. Pattabhi Rama Rao and seven others based on the complaint lodged by the CBI. Rama Rao, his son T. Ravichandra and Chalapathi Rao have already been arrested.

Sources said Yadagiri had approached Chalapathi Rao in December 2011 and had asked him to convince Rama Rao, who was then ACB judge, to grant bail to Sarveshwar Reddy, a police officer facing a disproportionate investments case. In his confession, Chalapathi Rao had stated that Rama Rao granted bail to Sarveshwar on December 13. Yadagiri had given `10 lakh to Rama Rao and `1 lakh to Chalapathi Rao for the deal.

On May 2, Yadagiri called Chalapathi Rao and asked him to arrange bail for Gali Janardhan Reddy. The issue was discussed again on May 6 and Yadagiri offered `3 crore. This was later enhanced to `5 crore.