Hyderabad: Sleuths of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) have recovered gold weighing 18 tolas from accused additional metropolitan sessions judge S. Radhakrishna Murthy’s personal bank locker. To further their investigation, the ACB has also written to six banks seeking statements of money transactions made by the accused judge. Judge S. Radhakrishna Murthy has been booked by the ACB in a criminal misconduct case.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, a senior ACB officer said, “The accused judge and family owned 18 tolas of gold ornaments, stored in SBI Alwal branch locker which has now been sealed. Officials of the ACB have written to the Andhra Bank, SBI, HDFC, ICICI Bank, Deccan Grameena Bank for transaction statements, as six bank account numbers were recovered from the Alwal residence of the accused judge.”
The money transactions and major deposits (if any) especially during the cash for bail scam timeframe will be investigated, the official said.
Following directions of the High Court, the sleuths of ACB registered a bribery case against Justice Murthy for demanding kickbacks of Rs 7.5 lakh from an accused Marupaka Dattu, an MTech student, who was booked in a Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substance Act case in 2017. Dattu’s mother had sold her gold jewellery to arrange the bribe amount.
Judge Murthy was also caught indulging in corrupt practices with two other advocates Mr K. Srinivasa Rao and Mr G. Satish Kumar, in the granting of bail and passing judgments. The ACB has appealed to the special ACB court for the custody of the other two accused K. Srinivasa Rao and G. Satish Kumar. ACB is also investigating allegations of disproportionate assets in this case.
The corrupt practises of of Justice Radhakrishna Murthy surfaced when a complaint was filed by advocate T. Srinagar Rao on behalf of his client, Marupaka Dattu. In the complaint, the advocate said, “I had filed three bail applications for the accused Marupaka Dattu and these bail applications were passed on to the courts of I additional metropolitan sessions judge, Nampally. Dattu was already in custody for 51 days. On all three occasions without allowing me to make a submission, the judge dismissed all the bail applications. Dattu’s cousin learnt from sources that the chances of getting bail were nil unless the judge was paid a bribe.”
The sleuths of ACB on Friday registered a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act against the judge and the other two accused.
