Intolerant to tolerate corruption in judiciary, the Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan has given the Central Bureau of Investigation a go-ahead to examine the allegations against the Punjab and Haryana High Court judges whose names have appeared in the cash-for-judges scam.
This is the first time in the annals of Indian judiciary when a High Court judge will be interrogated by the central investigating agency. Till now, a panel consisting of HC or SC judges appointed by Chief Justice were instructed only to investigate against HC/SC judges.
During the hearing of Veera Swami case, Supreme Court had come out with a decree that investigation against a sitting High Court or Supreme Court judge could not be initiated without the prior permission of the Chief Justice of India.
And now after cropping up names of two sitting Punjab and Haryana High Court judges—Nirmaljeet Kaur and Nirmal Yadav in the 'cash at judge door' scam, the Supreme Court has armed CBI to probe the scandal as well as interrogate the duo.
The scandal came to light after a clerk, allegedly sent by Additional Advocate General of Haryana Sajeev Bansal, who is currently in jail, dropped the money at the official residence of Justice Nirmaljit Kaur. Justice Kaur instantly reported the matter to State High Court Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur and local police about an attempt to bribe her by sending a briefcase containing Rs 15 lakh in cash.
Bansal reportedly confessed about the delivery of cash during interrogation but said the money was meant for another judge, Nirmal Yadav, who proceeded on leave after her name popped up in the scandal. He said money was meant for a land deal. It was to deliver to Justice Nirmal Yadav and by mistake had reached at the house of Justice Kaur.
A Delhi based hotelier Ravinder Pal Singh's name also popped up in the scam after Bansal said he was a regular conduit between Justice Yadav and Singh. A property dealer Rajeev Gupta is also in jail in this case.
So far the investigation conducted in this matter by the local police – since FIR was lodged by the Justice Kaur – revealed the money was related to a property deal the judge and her relatives had clinched in the second half of August.
On August 27, CJI Balakrishnan had constituted a three-member committee to enquire into the Rs 15 lakh bribery case allegedly involving the hand of Punjab and Haryana High Court judge Nirmal Yadav. Besides, a parallel CBI enquiry had also been recommended.
Punjab Governor SFR Rodrigues, who is also Administrator General of Chandigarh, had recommended a CBI probe into the scam after consultation with the HC Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur.
With this, the Ghaziabad Group IV employees Provident Fund scam that occurred in Ghaziabad district court from where Rs 7 crore was fraudulently siphoned off has also come in the light. The main accused, Ashutosh Asthana-a Ghaziabad treasurer, who is presently in jail had named 36 judges includes a Supreme Court judge, 11 Allahabad and Uttarakhand HC judges and 24 District and Session Courts judges of Ghaziabad as the beneficiaries of the scam.
As per the reports, after carrying out preliminary investigation the Ghaziabad SSP has demanded the Supreme Court to hand over the case to the CBI for a “transparent and fair investigation.”
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