E-Paper
Hyderabad judge arrested in corruption case, had ₹3 crore assets: Cops
The police produced Prasad, 14th Additional Magistrate in Ranga Reddy district court at L B Nagar in the same court, which remanded him to judicial custody for 14 days. He was taken to Chanchalguda jail immediately.
A judge in Telangana’s Ranga Reddy district court was arrested on Thursday for possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income after a series of raids by the state anti-corruption bureau at his residence and several other places, officials said.
Hyderabad Police produced V Vara Prasad, 14th additional magistrate in Ranga Reddy district court at LB Nagar, in the same court and was remanded to judicial custody for 14 days. He was taken to Chanchalguda jail immediately.
“The judge was found to be in possession of assets, whose market value is more than ₹3 crore, which is disproportionate to his known sources of income,” the bureau said in a statement.
The bureau statement said a case under the relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered against the judge.
The raids, which began on Wednesday morning went till the early hours of Thursday, when Prasad was formally arrested.
The searches took place simultaneously in Telangana and Maharashtra, including his residences at Gaddiannaram in Saroornagar and Izzathnagar in Kondapur in Hyderabad and also on the houses of his relatives and associates at four places in Hyderabad, three places in Sircilla and two in Maharashtra.
The high court had earlier issued orders to the bureau to register a case of disproportionate assets case against him after preliminary inquiry following a complaint against Prasad.
Prasad is the fifth judge in Telangana to face the ACB probe in the disproportionate assets case this year.
In April, a district judge in Mahbubnagar Kolla Ranga Rao was suspended, following charges of corruption and an inquiry by the high court. In the same month, the high court suspended metropolitan sessions court judge in Hyderabad S Radhakrishna Murthy following raids by the ACB. Another junior civil judge S Madhu in Jagitial district court was also suspended following a complaint that he was taking bribes.
In March, judge M Gandhi of a labour court in Hyderabad was suspended following ACB raids on his house and detected huge assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. Both Madhu and Gandhi were arrested following ACB cases.
