Amaravati Land Scam: Andhra Pradesh High Court Former Judge files personal affidavit in Supreme Court

Amaravati Land Scam: Andhra Pradesh High Court Former Judge files personal affidavit in Supreme Court

Justice V Eswaraiah (Former-Andhra Pradesh HC Judge) has filed a personal affidavit in the Supreme Court (SC)

The SC directed Justice V Eswaraiah, on 11 January 2021 to affirm on oath that the voice in the recorded conversation was his and he filed a correct transcript of the recording. In the calls, the Former Judge was allegedly seeking information on the allegation against the sitting SC Judge NV Ramana and his daughters regarding the Amaravati land scam.

Justice Eswaraiah who was acting as the Chief Justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in 2013 is presently the Chairman of the State's Higher Education Regulatory & Monitoring Commission. He filed a personal affidavit admitting that he was "trying to collect more evidence" on the alleged involvement of the daughters in the Amaravati land scam.

A Bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, Subhash Reddy and MR Shah had earlier asked advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the former judge, to ensure that the argument by Justice Eswaraiah on the veracity of the audio conversation be made on affidavit.

The affidavit was filed as part of his appeal against the Andhra Pradesh High Court's (HC) order to investigate an alleged WhatsApp conversation between him and a suspended judicial officer, which the HC had dubbed as a "serious conspiracy" to destabilize the judiciary. However, he pointed out that parts of the conversation were edited out in the recordings that became public.

He also pointed out that an FIR was filed with the names of former Advocate General Dammalapati Srinivas and the two daughters of the sitting SC Judge as accused. He claimed that the HC was in error wherein it was suspecting conspiracy however he was only inquiring into the allegations against the accused person. He further stated that the matter was already in the public domain and under police scrutiny.

The Former Judge filed his personal affidavit to the Top Court. He has submitted on oath to affirm that he had a conversation with the suspended District Magistrate about the senior Supreme Court Judge. The affidavit filed by him reads "That the relatives of a senior sitting SC judge were involved in these transactions (Amaravati land scam) was the information I had received and was trying to collect more evidence with regard to it."

The affidavit further mentions "I sought information & material from Mr. Ramakrishna (judicial officer) in that phone conversation with regard to benami transactions, involving the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) in Andhra Pradesh, & involvement of the relatives of the said SC Judge."

The call took place over WhatsApp between him and the District Magistrate on 20 July 2020, and he suspects that an external device was used to record the conversation as calls over WhatsApp are end-to-end encrypted.

Justice Eswaraiah said that any inquiry into his personal chats would violate his right to privacy. He alleged that the audio clip was leaked to news channels to tarnish his image. The Former Judge also called upon the Top Court to order an inquiry into the leak of the conversation.