SC judge kin involved in benami transactions: AP ex-Chief Justice

New Delhi, January 18

Former Andhra Pradesh High Court Chief Justice V Eswaraiah has alleged that relatives of a senior sitting judge of the Supreme Court (SC) were involved in benami transactions in the Amaravati land scam and that he was collecting more evidence in the case.

In an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, Justice Eswaraiah admitted to having a conversation with a suspended district munsif magistrate over a WhatsApp call in this regard but disputed the transcript.

The affidavit has been filed in response to the court’s direction after he challenged the high court’s August 13, 2020, order for a probe into his telephonic conversation. It had asked former Supreme Court judge RV Raveendran to hold an inquiry and ascertain the authenticity of the conversation. It was alleged that there was a plot against the AP HC Chief Justice and a senior judge of the Supreme Court.

On Monday, a Bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan posted the matter for hearing to February first week.

In his affidavit filed through advocate Prashant Bhushan, Justice Eswaraiah said he had sought information from a suspended judicial officer regarding the benami transactions, purportedly pertaining to corruption allegations in land deals in the state’s new capital.

“I state that asking for material (if available) regarding the conduct of a sitting judge and which, to my knowledge, was the subject matter of investigation, cannot, by any stretch of imagination, be said to be a conspiracy. I state that I did seek information and material from Mr Ramakrishna (suspended district munsif) in that phone conversation with regard to the benami transactions involving the Capital Region Development Authority in Andhra Pradesh and the involvement of the relatives of the said Supreme Court judge,” Justice Eswaraiah stated in the affidavit. — TNS