A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court Saturday summoned former Punjab and Haryana High Court judge Nirmal Yadav in the cash-for-judge scam that had rocked this union territory in August 2008.
CBI Special Judge Ritu Tagore asked Yadav to appear before court May 18. Four other accused in the case have also been summoned on that date.
The CBI had filed a charge sheet against Yadav for corruption, conspiracy, destroying evidence and creation of false evidence in the court March 4 – the day Yadav, posted at Uttarakhand High Court, retired from service.
Besides the charge sheet, the CBI had also submitted 126 pages of documentary evidence in the case.
President Pratibha Patil had given sanction for the prosecution of justice Nirmal Yadav in February.
The scam came to light after a packet containing Rs.1.5 million in cash was delivered at the Sector 11 residence of high court judge Nirmaljit Kaur Aug 13, 2008. The judge filed a complaint and later the (then) Haryana additional advocate general Sanjeev Bansal, a property dealer Rajiv Gupta and Delhi-based hotelier Ravinder Singh Bhasin were arrested.
Bansal and Gupta told the police that the money was actually meant for Judge Yadav. They claimed that another packet containing Rs.1.5 million was separately delivered to Yadav at her Sector 24 official residence later on.
Yadav went on leave after her name figured in this bribery scandal. She was later transferred to the Uttarakhand High Court.
Bansal, Gupta, Bhasin and Delhi-based property dealer Nirmal Singh have also been summoned May 18.
