Court dismisses CBI plea for summoning judges

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 1

A CBI court has dismissed the application filed by the CBI for summoning judicial magistrates who recorded the statements of the accused in the alleged cash-for-judge scam. The CBI moved the application after some of the accused turned hostile in the case.

The CBI, in the application, justified the demand while saying that it wanted to prove the statements of the accused recorded under Section 164 of the CrPC. The counsel for the accused opposed the CBI’s demand.

The alleged scam came to light in August 2008 when a bag containing Rs15 lakh was erroneously delivered at the house of Justice Nirmaljit Kaur. After initial investigation by the police, the case was handed over to the CBI.

The CBI has claimed that the money, in fact, had been allegedly demanded by Justice Nirmal Yadav.

The CBI alleged that a businessman, Ravinder Singh, gave a bag to advocate Sanjiv Bansal, who allegedly asked his wife to send the amount to Justice Yadav through his clerk. He inadvertently reached the residence of Justice Nirmaljit Kaur.

Hearings of the case could not be held last year due to Covid.

Meanwhile, the CBI court allowed another application of the CBI submitted under Section 311 of CrPC taking on record the certificate under Section 65 B of the Indian Evidence Act.