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The accused who got the judge convicted

Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad

"The conviction of S Janardhan Rao, formerly third additional metropolitan sessions judge, under the Prevention of Corruption Act has vindicated my effort to bring the black sheep in the judicial system to book."

That's Sant Esher Singh, the complainant who proved Rao's undoing. Speaking to rediff.com this afternoon, he recalled that he was constrained to complain after Rao made "unreasonable demands" for Singh's acquittal in a murder case.

"I was charged under sections 120(b) and 303 and sections 3 and 4 of the TADA Act and Arms Act in connection with the murder case. When the trial was on, Rao approached me through Police Constable Mohammed Moin and started negotiating for a bribe of Rs 600,000 to acquit me. I was taken aback by the demand.

"When I approached the Anti-Corruption Bureau for proceeding against the erring judge, the officials told me they had no jurisdiction over judicial officials," Esher Singh recounted.

"However," he went on, "I approached the then chief justice of the Andhra Pradesh high court, Prabha Shankar Mishra. He directed the officials to follow it up. Thus, the trap was laid on September 4, 1996, by the ACB authorities after fulfilling the required formalities."

In the meantime, an amount of Rs 300,000 was agreed upon and accepted by the erring judge through his wife S Indira at their house in Hanamkonda town. Indira and son Prasanth were arrested by the ACB with the tainted money.

The judge too was arrested at his flat at Padmaraonagar in Secunderabad the same day. The operation was carried out under ACB Joint Director Satyanarayana Rao.

A case was registered against Rao and two others. Rao, along with his wife and son, were prosecuted in the special court for ACB cases under sections 7, 13(2) read with 13(1)(d), and section 12 of the PCA and section 201 read with 34 of the Indian Penal Code.

The prosecution was led by Special Public Prosecutor M Devender.

Principal Special Judge for ACB cases, Hyderabad, C V Raghavaiah, pronounced the judgment on Tuesday, finding Janardhan Rao guilty. Rao was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for three years and a fine of Rs 3,000 under each charge. If he defaults, he will have to suffer simple imprisonment for a further two months under each count. Both sentences are to run concurrently.

However, Indira and Prasanth were acquitted for the offences punishable under the Prevention of Corruption Act and IPC.

Esher Singh, who is president of Gurdwara Kalgidhar Niwas at Goshamahal in the city, still faces charges in the murder case.

"The case is still going on," he said, referring to the murder of S Joga Singh on March 30, 1989.

"I was implicated in the case in 1989. Being a priest, I had excommunicated Joga Singh for his mismanagement of Bidar College. I held him responsible for killing six Sikh students at Bidar in the riots in September 1988," Esher Singh claimed.

He alleged that Joga Singh had transferred all the gurdwara's assets to his private trust, Guru Nanak Dev Educational Trust.

"Later, Joga Singh was killed by some unknown persons at his residence in Shahinayat Gunj. My name was included in the FIR and I surrendered to the police on June 11, 1989, to prove that I am innocent," Esher Singh said.

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