Cash-for-bail: Judge Pattabhi, 7 Others Booked by ACB

Suspended CBI Judge Pattabhirama Rao and 7 others have been booked on Saturday by the Anti-corruption Bureau (ACB) in the mining baron Gali Janardhan Reddy cash-for-bail case. Two Karnataka legislators are also among the persons booked. The Andhra Pradesh High Court had yesterday transferred the case from CBI to ACB.

Those who have been booked are First Additional CBI Judge Pattabhirama Rao, his son Ravi Chandra, retired judge Chalapathi Rao, jailed former Karnataka minister Gali Janardhana Reddy's brother Somasekhara Reddy and Suresh Babu (both legislators from Karnataka), rowdy sheeter Yadgiri of Hyderabad, Dasarathrami Reddy and a junior advocate. The accused have been booked for corruption, cheating and criminal conspiracy under various sections of Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act.

The judge, Pattabhirama Rao, on May 11 had granted bail to Janardhana Reddy in the Obulapuram Mining Company case. Janardhan Reddy, however, remained in Bangalore jail as he is standing trial for another mining case in Karnataka. The bail order was subsequently set aside by the high court. The CBI has been investigating the scam ever since it found that Pattabhirama Rao received a bribe of Rs.5 crore to grant bail to Janardhana Reddy. However, no arrest has been made in the case so far. High Court Chief Justice Madan B. Lokur on May 31 had suspended Pattabhirama Rao. The CBI reportedly seized a part of the bribe money from bank lockers belonging to the suspended judge's son.
 

Modi Is Not Our PM: Owaisi

MIM is a recognized state political party based in the Indian state of Telangana, with its head office in the old city of Hyderabad, which has its roots in the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen founded in 1927. Unlike most of the regional and national level parties, MIM party leaders ‘fight’ only for the well-being of Muslims, whereas no other party has such communal feelings. In their each and every speech, MIM leaders speak only about Muslims. If these leaders are here to fight for Muslims, then why there are no development works are happening in old city area for decades. Akbaruddin Owaisi faced criticism for making hate remarks on Narendra Modi and Hindus. Recently, his elder brother Asaduddin Owaisi made some notorious annotations. In a one-on-one debate between BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra and Asaduddin Owaisi on the topic of demonetization in a popular Hindi channel, the former left no stone unturned in exposing the latter’s communal designs. Owaisi claimed how most of the Muslim community still remains unbanked and that demonetization has caused severe inconvenience to Muslims. He even went on to say that ATM’s in Muslim-dominated areas weren’t fed enough money. He indirectly alleged that the Modi government hadn’t done anything for Muslims. Even after being pressurized Owaisi didn’t call Narendra Modi as his Prime Minister. He went on said, “Your Prime Minister…” On the other hand, Sambit spoke wisely and called Owaisi a leader of small stature because he talked only of Muslims. He said that no area was Muslim or Hindu and that all areas belonged to India. Owaisi was constantly quoting an RBI report, to which Sambit challenged him to show where the RBI had used the word ‘Muslim’. Sambit even said that if a Muslim leader speaks of Muslims it’s not an issue, but the moment a VHP leader speaks of Hindus people go crazy accusing them of imposing the Hindutva ideology. The most amazing of his counters was to Owaisi’s claims of Muslims not having been brought into the banking system. Sambit said that when banks or ATMs are to be opened in Muslim areas leaders like Owaisi shout that banking is un-Islamic and that Muslims should refrain from it! This video of debate between Sambit Patra and Asaduddin Owaisi is going viral in social media.