Hyderabad, August 27: Former Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) judge B Naga Maruti Sarma on Monday revealed before the Anti-Corruption Bureau court that he was offered Rs 40 crore for setting mining baron Gali Janardhan Reddy free on bail. Informing more, he stated that his successor T Pattabhi Rama Rao and a high court judicial officer were trapped by probing agencies for accepting an alleged bribe to grant bail to the mining baron.

According to a report, published in the Times of India, the AP High Court registrar (enquiries) K Lakshmi Narasimha Rao reportedly on behalf of Gali’s men in April 2012 allegedly offered the bribe to Maruti Sarma. At that time, Janardhan Reddy was under judicial custody at the Chanchalguda jail after his arrest in Sept 2011 by CBI in the illegal mining case. Bombay High Court Upholds Acquittal of Jigna Vora in Journalist Jyotirmoy Dey Murder Case

Deposing as a witness in the court, Maruti Sarma said, as quoted by the national daily, "I rejected the offer outright and walked out of the house of the registrar." Maruti Sarma even claimed that he dismissed Gali’s bail plea, which was pending before him.

In the infamous cash-for-bail case against mining baron Janardhan Reddy, the ACB special court (Hyderabad) posted it to September 13 for further hearing. Janardhan Reddy's counsel is most likely to cross-examine Maruti Sarma on the next hearing.

Briefing the minutes of the alleged bribery incident, Maruti Sarma in his testimony claimed that in April 2012, HC registrar Narasimha Rao had called him over the phone and conveyed his intent to visit him. There he offered Rs 40 crore for the favour of granting bail to Janardhan Reddy, which he denied.

Later, his successor Pattabhi Rama Rao granted teh bail to the mining baron and subsequently caught in a joint operation by CBI and ACB officials for allegedly accepting the bribe. In July 2012, ACB officials arrested Lakshmi Narasimha Rao too.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 27, 2019 05:49 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).