Pronouncing its verdict in the 2008 corruption case, a special CBI court acquitted former Punjab and Haryana High Court judge Nirmal Yadav on Saturday.
The case dates back to August 2008, when a bag containing Rs 15 lakh allegedly meant for Justice Nirmal Yadav had mistakenly been delivered at the residence of Justice Nirmaljit Kaur, another High Court judge.
The verdict comes a day after the Special CBI judge heard the final arguments in the case on Friday and posted the case for pronouncement of order on March 29.
“I have not committed any crime and there is nothing incriminating found during the entire trial against me,” Justice Yadav (retd) stated in her final statement.
The relief for Justice Nirmal Yadav comes at a time when a sitting judge of the Delhi High Court, Justice Yashwant Varma, is facing similar charges of ‘amassing’ unaccounted wealth.
Justice Varma was de-rostered by the Delhi HC after a directive from the Chief Justice of India (CJI) following recovery of mounds of cash from his residence. As per reports, the firemen, while dousing the fire at his Lutyens Delhi residence on March 14, discovered wads of cash allegedly in a storeroom. Justice Varma, however, strongly denied the charges, claiming that he was being “defamed and maligned”.
“Mistaken delivery of Cash’: The Case details of the infamous 2008 Corruption case
In the case of cash at the judge’s door, a First Information Report (FIR) was filed against Justice Nirmal Yadav on August 16, 2008. About 10 days later, the then UT Administrator had transferred the case to the CBI, which registered a fresh FIR on August 28, 2008.
The prosecution noted that a packet containing ₹15 lakh in cash was mistakenly delivered at the Sector 11 residence of justice Nirmaljit Kaur, also a judge at the high court at that time. Kaur had promptly lodged a complaint to the police who registered an FIR.
According to the Police, the cash was actually meant for justice Nirmal Yadav.
It was alleged that the cash was “payback” for a “favourable judgment” in a property dispute in Panchkula in 2007. According to the allegations, the case was to be decided in favour of Sanjeev Bansal, then Haryana additional advocate general, property dealer Rajiv Gupta and Delhi-based hotelier Ravinder Singh Bhasin. They were the other accused in this infamous 2008 corruption case which made national headlines back then. It was claimed to be the first case where a sitting judge was booked in a corruption case.
Later, in January 2009, the CBI sought sanction to prosecute Justice Nirmal Yadav. The High Court granted the same in November 2010. The CBI’s move was challenged by Justice Yadav but was denied. Later, the President of India approved the prosecution sanction in March 2011. CBI filed a chargesheet the same month. More than 80 witnesses were cited by the prosecution during the course of the trial.
(With Inputs from IANS)
