CBI chief denies any pressure in cash for judge scam
By IANSThursday, February 11, 2010
NEW DELHI - The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Thursday said that the investigating agency was under no pressure from the law ministry while investigating the cash for justice scam involving a Punjab and Haryana high court judge.
“We were under no pressure from the law ministry nor the chief justice. We did a professional job and the report is now with the government,” CBI Director Ashwini Kumar told reporters here.
Chief Justice of India (CJI) K.G. Balakrishnan Wednesday said that the CBI did not seek his permission to prosecute Justice Nirmal Yadav of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on charges of corruption.
The scam had broken out in August 2008, when the clerk of then additional advocate general of Haryana delivered a bag containing Rs.1.5 million in cash to the house of Justice Nirmaljit Kaur.
It was later found that the money was meant for Yadav. However, the CBI, which investigated the case, filed a closure report in December last year saying that it had not got clearance from the CJI to continue with the case.
Balakrishnan has been criticised by the Punjab and Haryana Bar Association for the clean chit to Justice Yadav.
He, however, denied even having seen the CBI report on the scam.
The matter was discussed between the law ministry and the chief justice, who observed that no action was required in the matter.
