Kerala judge says he was offered bribe

A Kerala High Court judge on Monday recused himself from a smuggling case, saying he was offered money to give a "favourable judgement".

Justice K.T. Shankaran made the startling revelation while hearing the case involving the smuggling of gold from the Middle East, through the Kochi airport.

A police probe found that a group of conduits had smuggled more than 500 kg of gold into Kerala over a period of time.

The prime accused in the case and his accomplices have been detained under the stringent anti-smuggling COFEPOSA law since October last year.

The judge was reportedly told that if he deleted this section, they could walk free from custody.

Shankaran said he was conveyed that he would get Rs.25 lakh before the judgement and the rest of the money later. He then announced he was withdrawing from the case.

The 61-year-old is one of the seniormost judge in the Kerala High Court and was appointed an additional judge of the court in 2005.

--IANS

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