Cash At Judge’s Door: 17 years later, final arguments conclude, verdict on March 29

“I have not committed any crime and there is nothing incriminating found during the entire trial against me,” Justice Yadav (retd) said in her final statement.

The case dates back to August 13, 2008, when a clerk at the residence of Justice Kaur received a packet containing Rs 15 lakh in cash. The packet was allegedly meant for Justice Yadav and was delivered at the other judge’s residence over a mistaken identity due to their similar sounding names.

Justice Kaur informed the then Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court and the Chandigarh Police, following which a First Information Report (FIR) was registered on August 16, 2008. However, 10 days later, the then UT Administrator, General (retd) SF Rodrigues, transferred the the case to the CBI, which registered a fresh FIR on August 28, 2008.

During the probe, it came to fore that the money was delivered by a clerk of former Haryana Additional Advocate General Sanjeev Bansal, who had also called Justice Kaur stating that the money was actually meant for one Nirmal Singh but had mistakenly reached her residence.

The CBI in January 2009, sought sanction to prosecute Justice Yadav. The high court granted the same in November 2010. Justice Yadav challenged CBI’s move but was unsuccessful. The office of the President of India approved the prosecution sanction in March 2011, following which CBI filed a chargesheet the same month.

During the course of the trial, the prosecution cited 84 witnesses but only 69 were examined. The high court, in February this, year allowed the CBI to re-examine 10 witnesses within four weeks and further asked the trial court to ensure that no unnecessary adjournments are granted.