CBI files chargesheet against Justice Nirmal Yadav

The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday filed a chargesheet against Justice Nirmal Yadav and four others in the 2008 cash-at-judge's-door scam, on a day when she is to demit office as a high court judge.

The chargesheet was filed in the court of Special CBI Judge Ritu Tagore in Chandigarh under various sections, including 120-B of the Indian Penal Code relating to conspiracy and sections 11 and 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The Special CBI court posted the matter for April 6 after the CBI filed the 25-page chargesheet against Justice Yadav, who is to demit office as a judge of the Uttarakhand high court. At the time of the scam, she was the judge of the Punjab and Haryana high court. The others named in the chargesheet are local advocate Sanjiv Bansal, Delhi businessman Ravinder Singh, Nirmal Singh and Rajiv.

The case had rocked the Punjab and Haryana high court after Rs 15 lakh was wrongly delivered at the residence of Justice Nirmaljit Kaur, another judge of the high court in Chandigarh, on August 13, 2008 following which she reported the matter to the Chandigarh police.

The money was said to have been delivered there due to confusion over names. The chargesheet against Justice Yadav has been filed after President Pratibha Patil gave clearance for her prosecution. The other charges against Justice Yadav include creation of false evidence and destruction of evidence. The CBI also attached the three-page sanction letter issued by the President with the chargesheet.

Since the CBI got the sanction only recently, the prosecuting agency said that it would soon file the documents related with the case. The money was allegedly delivered by Parkash Ram, a clerk of Sanjiv Bansal, who was a former advocate general of Haryana.

Justice Yadav had denied the allegation that the money was meant for her and went on leave after the case surfaced. Later she was transferred as a judge of the Uttarakhand high court.