In a new twist to the 'cash- at-judge's door' scam, a CBI court in Chandigarh on Thursday said it was not satisfied with the investigating agency's report for closure of the case and sought a response from the complainant.
"I am just not satisfied by the CBI's closure report in the case. I will issue notice to the complainant in the case," CBI special Judge Darshan Singh said.
The judge observed that the CBI filed the closure report after it failed to get sanction from the Chief Justice of India to launch prosecution against the judge.
He said the CBI could have initiated action against the other co-accused in the case as no sanction for their prosecution was required.
The complainant, Amrik Singh, a local resident, has been asked to respond to the notice by January 11.
The court direction comes amid concerns voiced by former judges over the way the cash-for-judge scam has been sewed up.
The case is about Rs 15 lakh in cash being delivered at the residence of Justice Nirmaljit Kaur on August 13, 2008, following which she reported the matter to the police.
The money was allegedly delivered by Parkash Ram, a clerk of former Haryana Additional Advocate General Sanjeev Bansal, the prime accused in the case.
The police had registered an FIR on August 16, 2008, and the case was handed over to the CBI on August 28.
Another judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice Nirmal Yadav denied the allegation that the money was meant for her.
Justice Yadav had proceeded on leave after the case surfaced and had not been conducting judicial work in the High Court. The judge has denied the allegations against her.
Bansal, Rajiv Gupta, a businessman, and Parkash Ram got bail on October 13, 2008. The fourth accused Nirmal Singh had also got bail on October 16, 2008, while the fifth accused, a Delhi-based businessman Ravinder Singh, secured bail on November 6, 2008.
Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan appointed a three-judge committee to look into the matter. The then Attorney General Milon Banerji had reportedly advised the Law ministry that there was not enough material to proceed further in the matter.
The Delhi branch of the probe agency had filed an FIR cancellation report on Friday before District and Sessions Judge K K Garg, who transferred the plea to the CBI special court for hearing.
Expressing their concern over the way the case has been dealt with, a former Supreme Court judge and three former Chief Justices of High Courts have asked the CJI to clear the air relating to the scam.
In a letter to him, they have urged him to make public the reasons leading to Justice Yadav being given a "clean chit". They have also sought full disclosure of the report of the three-judge committee. PTI
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