Framing of corruption charges against ex-judge put off

The framing of corruption charges against former Punjab and Haryana High Court judge Nirmal Yadav was postponed as she failed to appear before a special court here Monday.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge Vimal Kumar adjourned the hearing to Aug 27 after the former judge sought exemption from appearance on "health grounds".

Yadav was to appear before the trial court here for the framing of charges.

The trial court July 31 ordered framing of charges against Yadav in the Rs.1.5 million cash-at-door scandal. She had been exempted from court appearance till now.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court was hit by a scandal after a packet containing Rs.1.5 million was found Aug 13, 2008 at the doorstep of the Sector 11 house of a newly-appointed judge Nirmaljit Kaur. She complained to police and got a case registered.

Yadav was also a judge in the high court here when the scandal came to light.

Police later arrested then Haryana additional advocate general Sanjeev Bansal, property dealer Rajiv Gupta and Delhi-based hotelier Ravinder Singh in this connection.

Police claimed Bansal and Gupta told them that the money was meant for Nirmal Yadav.

The two claimed that another packet containing Rs.1.5 million was separately delivered to Yadav at her Sector 24 official residence later, since the first packet was wrongly delivered to the other woman judge, police said.

A case was registered by Chandigarh Police initially and later the investigation was handed over to the CBI.

Despite objections from Yadav, the Supreme Court had set up an independent enquiry into the case. The high court, in 2011, directed Yadav to appear before the trial court.

Yadav was later transferred to the Uttarakhand High Court from where she retired in 2012.

The CBI filed a charge sheet against Yadav for corruption, conspiracy, destruction of evidence and creation of false evidence.