Judge suspended in Telangana on corruption charges, fourth in a month
He used to sit on judgment orders for months, though he was supposed to deliver the same within a specified period. He also had political leanings and used to stay in the house of a local politician...
MEMBER, Bar Association, on condition of anonymity
HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad high court on Wednesday suspended a senior judge in Telangana’s Mahbubnagar district on corruption charges, making him the fourth judge to be suspended in a month in the state.
Kolla Ranga Rao, additional judge in the Vikarabad district court, had been transferred as judge of a special court dealing with SC/ST Atrocities (Prevention) Act in Mahbubnagar a couple of days ago. He assumed charge in the special court on Wednesday but within half an hour received orders from the state high court, saying he was suspended on charges of corruption. A faxed copy of his suspension order was handed over to him by the local court in Mahbubnagar. As a result, Rao stepped down from his new post without hearing even a single case.
The suspension of Rao comes following an inquiry conducted by the high court acting on a petition submitted on April 13 by a 36-member delegation of advo- cates belonging to the Vikarabad Bar Association.
“There have been several allegations of corruption and favouritism against the judge. He used to sit on judgment orders for months, though he was supposed to deliver the same within a specified period. He also had political leanings and used to stay in the house of a local politician, which is against rules,” a bar association member said on condition of anonymity.
Rao is the fourth judge to be suspended in Telangana on charges of corruption in the last month. Last Tuesday, the HC suspended metropolitan sessions court judge in Hyderabad, S Radhakrishna Murthy, after raids by the Anti-corruption Bureau on his house. He was charged with taking a bribe of ₹7.5 lakh to grant bail to an accused in a narcotics case, and was arrested.
On March 18, the high court suspended M Gandhi, a judge in a local labour court, following ACB raids on his house, and detected a huge amount of assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. He was later arrested.
On April 6, the high court suspended junior civil judge S Madhu in Jagitial district following a complaint from the local bar association that he was taking bribes to deliver biased verdicts. He was also arrested later.
There were complaints of corruption against justice K Ravinder Reddy, judge of the NIA special court in Hyderabad, who resigned within hours of delivering a verdict in the Mecca Masjid blast case on Tuesday.