Allegations against Judge Parmar serious: Punjab and Haryana HC
Saurabh Malik
Chandigarh, July 27
The allegations levelled against judicial officer Sudhir Parmar are being investigated by the enforcement directorate and are quite serious in nature, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has observed, while dismissing two petitions filed by Pankaj Bansal and Basant Bansal—both directors of M3M, a real estate group based in Gurugram.
The two were seeking the quashing of orders passed last month, whereby they were ordered to be remanded to ED custody and then to judicial custody. “On the perusal of the material placed on record, it has been revealed that the allegations as levelled against judicial officer Sudhir Parmar, who is alleged to have taken undue favours from the present petitioners and other key persons of M3M group of companies and Managing Director of IREO company, are being investigated by respondent-ED,” the Bench of Justice Ritu Bahri and Justice Manisha Batra asserted.
Keeping in view the gravity of the matter, Bench asserted the petitioners’ prayer for release from custody at the current stage did not deserve to be accepted. Direction was also issued to the Union of India and other respondents to submit a status report on steps taken during the course of investigation.
The direction came after the Bench observed further investigation as per the respondents for establishing the exact part played by the petitioners was going on. The Bench added the petitioners, in its opinion, had failed to make out a case to show how the orders remanding them to ED custody, and then to judicial custody, were liable to be set aside. A perusal of these orders revealed that the petitioners had been validly remanded to custody by passing detailed orders by the court concerned. The act of directing remand of an accused was a judicial function.
Bribery alleged
Additional Solicitor-General of India S.V. Raju, with Deputy Solicitor General Jagjot Singh Lalli, submitted ED investigation so far indicated that “the petitioners in connivance with Lalit Goyal and Roop Bansal, who were accused before CBI Court, Panchkula, had bribed Sudhir Parmar, CBI Judge, and his nephew by giving undue favours to them and in order to seek favourable orders from the CBI Court in respect of a previous FIR…”
Raju added investigation conducted so far in the case and FIR previously registered against co-accused revealed that the petitioners were, prima facie, involved in transfer of crores of rupees from IREO company headed by its owner Lalit Goyal, who was a co-accused.
“The money belonging to innocent buyers had been siphoned off in connivance with the petitioners, Roop Bansal, who along with the petitioners, were managing the affairs of M3M group of companies being Managing Director/Directors/founders.”
