The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday filed a fresh FIR against retired Allahabad High Court Judge Shri Narayan Shukla, who is already being probed for allegedly favouring a medical college owner, for amassing disproportionate assets worth Rs 2.45 crore during his tenure as the high court judge between 2014-19. The FIR was registered on February 20 on the complaint of CBI Deputy Superintendent Surender Kumar Rohilla. Other than Shukla, those named in the FIR include his second wife Suchita Tiwari, and Saideen Tiwari (who is an elder brother of his first wife). Earlier, Shukla, then a sitting HC judge, was arraigned as an accused along with six others in an FIR registered on December 4, 2019, by the CBI. The matter is related to a 2017 case in which the agency had also arrested former Chhattisgarh High Court chief justice I M Quddusi. Shukla is accused of accepting bribes for giving a favourable order to a private medical college, which was barred by the government from admitting students. In 2018, then chief justice of India Dipak Misra had constituted a three-member committee to look into allegations of corruption against Shukla. The panel found substance in the allegations, prompting justice Misra to write to Shukla to either resign or retire voluntarily. After justice Shukla refused both options, all judicial work was withdrawn from the judge immediately. According to the high court website, Shukla retired from service in July 2020. In the fresh case, the complainant alleged that during the investigation of the 2019 case against Shukla, sources had informed that Shukla in capacity as a judge of the Allahabad High Court enriched himself illicitly and acquired assets by corrupt means in the name of Suchita Tiwari, Saideen Tiwari and others. “Source information related to acquiring of properties by Shukla in the name of Suchita and Saideen were verified and scrutinised for the check period from April 1, 2014 to December 6, 2019. It has been revealed that Suchita came in contact with Shukla in 2014-15 and prior to that she was not having any immovable assets. During searches, documents from the Suchita’s house were recovered related to Shukla. Among documents, they have recovered fixed deposit receipts of Rs 18 lakh in the joint name of Shukla and Suchita,” the FIR states. “Saideen had paid Rs 10 lakh from his bank account on May 1, 2015 at the time of purchase of a flat in Lucknow, which was bought in the name of Suchita, who is having nominal [monthly] income of Rs 40,000 as mentioned by her in court petition filed for claiming maintenance from her ex-husband. She is not financially capable to acquire such huge assets,” the complainant alleged. The complainant alleged that Shukla had also acquired assets in the name of Saideen, which were later sold, but the amount was received by Shukla.
