9 yrs on, ex-IG says clerical mistake made in judge’s name in statement

Nine years after former Chandigarh IGP Rajesh Kumar testified in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in the 2008 cash-at-judge’s-door case, the officer today submitted that a clerical error had been made while mentioning the name of a judge in his statement.

The prosecution had called the former IG for re-examination to remove alleged ambiguity surrounding words “Nirmaljit Yadav” mentioned in his statement recorded in 2016. In the statement, the former IG had said: “He (accused Ravinder Singh) gave me a telephone call saying money was meant for another judge of the High Court with the same name, Nirmaljit Yadav.” Today, the former IG told the court that a clerical mistake had been made while mentioning the name of the judge — Justice Nirmal Yadav — in his statement, wherein she was erroneously referred to as “Nirmaljit Yadav”.

The former IG was examined by CBI public prosecutor Narender Singh.

In his 2016 statement, Kumar had said that he was posted as IG Chandigarh from 2002 to 2005. The accused, Ravinder Singh, had met him for official work and they had remained in touch after that.

Kumar was transfer to the Delhi Police in April 2005 and subsequently appointed Special Commissioner of Police, Delhi Armed Police, in 2008.

On August 13, 2008, Ravinder called him on the phone saying the Chandigarh Police had intercepted the exchange of money. A day later, Ravinder visited his house and told him that the money was meant for “Nirmal Singh”. Kumar asked him to get the facts verified from the Chandigarh Police. Ravinder then clarified that the money was delivered at the residence of “Justice Nirmaljit Kaur” by mistake.

After leaving Kumar’s place, Ravinder called him up to say that the money was meant for another High Court judge with the same name — “Nirmaljit Yadav” (written in statement).

Defence counsels Amar Singh Chahal and Vishal Garg Narwana, however, questioned the delay of nine years in pointing out the alleged mistake. They said the witness had signed the statement and did not point out the mistakes at the time.

The Chandigarh Police had registered the case on August 16, 2008, on the complaint of Amrik Singh, a peon working at the residence of Justice Nirmaljit Kaur. Initially, the case was investigated by the local police, but was transferred to the CBI on August 26, 2008, by then Punjab Governor and UT Administrator.