CBI charge-sheets retiring lady judge

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday filed a chargesheet against Nirmal Yadav, who retires as the Uttarakhand High Court judge during the day, for her alleged involvement in a land scam and other corruption charges as a justice.

The retiring judge has been linked to a land scam in Solan of Himachal Pradesh as the judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court from Nov 2004 to Feb 2010, besides charges that she could be bribed to deliver judgement in favour of the bribe giver.

The chargesheet was filed on the day of her retirement on Friday.

President Pratibha Patil had sanctioned the prosecution of the woman judge.

Reports said it was owing to a mistaken identity that the judge’s alleged corruption links came to fore.

Media reports said a businessman seeking a judgement in his favour had by mistake offered the bribe (Rs 15 lakh) to another woman judge of the same court with similar name in Punjab, leading the trail to Justice Nirmal Yadav.

The Presidential sanction to charge-sheet Yadav was granted after the recommendations of Chief Justice of India SH Kapadia and the Union Law Ministry, reports said.