Hyderabad: Judicial officer used staff as cook, driver

Hyderabad: Arrested labour court judicial officer Mallampati Gandhi kept 20 ‘judicial’ personnel recruited by the government to work as cooks, gardeners, drivers, sweepers and dhobis, at his residence at Warasiguda.

This came to light when sleuths of the Anti-Corruption Bureau conducted searches on Saturday. On March 17, the ACB booked a case of disproportionate assets against Nampally Labour Court – 1 presiding officer (judicial officer) M. Gandhi. The sleuths unearthed ill-gotten properties worth Rs 3.57 crore.

Sources told Deccan Chronicle, “When the ACB enquired with the domestic helpers present at the judge’s house on day of raids, it was found that they were appointed by the government, a few as record assistants, drivers and attendees, drawing a salary between Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 paid by the government. These personnel were recruited for official duty at the Nampally labour court. However, they were used as domestic helpers. Since a year and a half, M. Gandhi, a native of West Godavari holding the rank of a session judge, has been the presiding officer at Nampally labour court.”

The ACB sleuths reached the residence at Warasiguda at 6.30 am on Saturday and the searches took 20 hours. The team also had two doctors (a surgeon and a general physician) from Gandhi Hospital. The accused happened to collapse soon after the searches ended and the family insisted that he be taken to a hospital, sources added.

The judge had a medical history; he earlier underwent a heart operation where a pacemaker was placed to control the abnormal heart rhythm. The judge, who had been remanded, was currently under medical observation at the prison’s ward in Gandhi Hospital, as his health turned bad during investigation. 

The ACB had sought intervention from Gandhi Hospital and it would be submitted to the High Court. The corruption charges against Gandhi surfaced when the court received a complaint against him. The High Court directed the ACB to verify the allegation. 

Following an investigation, ACB submitted a fact-finding report to the court and the allegation against the judicial officer was proved true. The High court granted ACB permission to take action, based on which the raids were conducted on Saturday.