Judge accused in Janardhan Reddy bail scam found dead in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Ruling out suicide angle in the death of Dr D Prabhakara Rao, accused in the bail scam case of mining baron Gali Janardhan Reddy, his wife Dr Marilyn Prabhalatha and the police have said that it was a case of cardiac arrest.

Prabhakar Rao was found dead under suspicious circumstances in his house at East Marredpally on Saturday and the issue came to light on Sunday.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle Marilyn Prabhalatha, a doctor at  Government Hospital at Patancheru said , "My husband is not a coward to end his life. He was courageous. He suffered  a massive heart attack on Saturday night. I am a doctor. I spoke to the autopsy doctors who revealed primarily that it was a case of cardiac arrest."

Read: Gali Janardhan Reddy gets bail in bribe-for-bail case

She added, "He was innocent and framed in the bail scam case. He felt tortured. My husband was fighting his case on his own in the court. The false allegations of his involvement in the case had pained him and the family. But he didn’t commit suicide."

Tukaramgate police registered a case of suspicious death under 174 CrPC and have initiated investigation.

Gopalapuram Assistant Commissioner of Police Shiva Kumar said, "It appears to be a case of hearth attack. For Christmas family came and stayed in their Marredpally residence, their ancestral home. His wife left to their Kompally residence, but he continued to be put up there as he wanted stay there for few more days. On Saturday morning wife tried reaching him to call him for the church prayer service.

"She alerted her relatives as her calls went unattended, following which they went and broke open the door to find him dead. His body was shifted to Gandhi hospital where the autopsy was conducted. We are awaiting the report. Prima facie there is no evidence to stay it as a suicide and all clues point to cardiac arrest."

Prabhakar Rao is survived by wife, daughter Dr Susan, and son David Prashant.

However relatives of the retired district judge suspect that he may have taken the extreme step.