A sitting judge in Telangana was arrested on Thursday and remanded to judicial custody for 14 days after the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) raided his residences and other properties a day earlier. He was sent to the Chanchalguda Central Prison in the city.
Investigating officials said that they found close to Rs 3 crore in disproportionate assets from Vaidya Vara Prasad, the Fourteenth Additional District Judge of Ranga Reddy district. The ACB said that raids were conducted at multiple residences in Hyderabad, including one in Kondapur and three places in Telangana’s Sircilla district, besides two places in Maharashtra, where the judge had earlier served.
The ACB had conducted the searches on the directions of the Hyderabad High Court, which had received a complaint against the judge and ordered a preliminary enquiry. A case had also been registered under sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
This is not the first time that a sitting judge has been raided in Telangana. In April, a senior judge in Mahbubnagar, who was serving in a special court in the district dealing with the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, was suspended on charges of corruption following an inquiry by the High Court within a day of taking charge.
In the same month, the ACB arrested the First Additional Junior Civil Judge, S Madhu, in Jagtial in Telangana on charges of corruption. At the time, investigation officials said that Rs 4.20 lakh was seized from his residence in Jagtial town.
In March, a sitting judge from a labour court in Hyderabad, Mallampati Gandhi, was suspended after ACB raids on his properties following the direction of the Hyderabad High Court, which received a complaint against the judge. The raids by the ACB found more than Rs 3.5 crore in disproportionate assets. He was later arrested by the police.