Former judge quizzed in connection with clerk recruitment scam

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in Rajasthan has quizzed a former district and session judge here in connection with an alleged scam related with court clerk recruitment.
Ajay Kumar Sharda, who was the district and session judge when the scam came to light last month, was quizzed yesterday at a guest house here, the ACB sources said, adding that he is currently posted in a family court in Banswara.
However, they did not disclose any further details, saying that it may affect the ongoing probe.
The Rajasthan Anti-Corruption Bureau last month unearthed a racket in which the court clerk recruitment process was allegedly being influenced after money was taken from candidates.

Acting on complaints, the ACB officials conducted surveys at the houses of two employees of a lower court in Ajmer, two advocates and a private person and allegedly recovered cash of over Rs 17 lakh in all.
The agency recovered Rs 14 lakh from the house of two brothers Rajesh Sharma and Hitesh Sharma, who are the employees of Ajmer's Nasirabad court. In another raid, Rs 1.8 lakh and Rs 80,000 were recovered from the houses of advocate Hemraj and advocate Bhagwan.

The house of Abdul Razzak was also searched and Rs 80,000 recovered from his possession.
Meanwhile, the sources said that the advocate Hemraj used to visit the house of the judge frequently and had also telephonic communication with him.

After the scam came to light, the judge was put under APO (Awaiting Posting Orders) status and later transferred to Banswara.