CBI fabricated evidence against Justice Nirmal Yadav, says court

A Chandigarh court has said the CBI fabricated evidence against former Punjab and Haryana High Court judge Justice Nirmal Yadav in the 2008 cash-at-judge’s-door case.

Releasing its detailed 90-page judgment today, the court of Special Judge (CBI) Alka Malik, which had acquitted Justice Yadav and four other accused on March 29, said the probe agency used a “highly aggrieved person”, then Haryana Additional District and Sessions Judge RK Jain, to “weave a case against her”. It said Justice Yadav had rejected an appeal by Jain on March 11, 2008.

The judgment highlighted that the CBI relied heavily on Jain’s statement to build its case against the high court judge. “The court has no hesitation in saying the CBI picked up a person who was highly aggrieved by a ruling of Justice Yadav, which went against his interests. His testimony was used to weave a case against her,” the court remarked. Special Judge Malik noted that it would have been highly appreciable for a premier investigating agency like the CBI to stick to its earlier stance of filing a closure report in the matter rather than “fabricating a highly untrustworthy evidence in the form of Jain’s (prosecution witness 26) testimony”. “His statements were based on assumptions, presumptions, hypothesis and falsehood,” the court said.

The court pointed out that the corruption case was registered on August 16, 2008, more than five months after Justice Yadav had ruled against Jain’s appeal. “It would have been immature and imprudent on the part of even a layman to accept the contention that a sitting judge of the high court will receive illegal gratification or undue advantage in a matter decided five months earlier,” the court said.

Highly aggrieved person used

The CBI picked up a person who was highly aggrieved by a ruling of Justice Yadav and used his testimony to weave a case against her. His statements were based on assumptions, hypothesis and falsehood. - CBI court

Jain testified that after getting a favourable judgment from the high court, one of the accused, late Sanjiv Bansal, got an affidavit from him for not pursuing the matter in the Supreme Court, the CBI court said.

“Jain also said he came to know that Bansal and Ravinder (another accused) were partners who would purchase disputed properties. Jain felt cheated and thought all conspired to get the case decided in their favour by paying Rs 15 lakh to Justice Yadav. During further cross-examination, he either evaded queries or feigned ignorance about facts,” the court said.

The case against Justice Yadav, then a sitting high court judge, had originated on August 13, 2008, when a bag containing Rs 15 lakh was allegedly mistakenly delivered at the residence of Justice Nirmaljit Kaur, another sitting judge of the high court, due to similarity in the names of the two judges. The bag was received by Justice Kaur’s peon, who reported the matter to the Chandigarh Police and an FIR was registered. The case was later transferred to the CBI.