Chargesheet filed in PF scam case; 3 former HC Judges named
The chargesheet, filed in the special court of A K Singh in
Giving details of the chargesheet, CBI spokesman said in a release that the agency's probe concluded that 781 treasury cheques amounting to Rs 7.92 crore were issued in the names of Class-IV employees of District Court,
Out of 781 instances, 482 treasury cheques amounting to Rs 6.58 crore were found to have been drawn fraudulently, the chargesheet said.
CBI claimed to have found that during the period 2001-08 the then bill clerk of the district Ashutosh Asthana (since dead), allegedly entered into a criminal conspiracy with six district Judges and 71 "fraudulently and dishonestly" withdrew Rs 6.58 crore from the District Treasury as GPF withdrawals.
The withdrawals were made allegedly by submitting fake and forged documents for withdrawing money in the name of GPF of Class-IV employees, the chargesheet said.
The chargesheet was filed under 120-B (criminal conspiracy), cheating and forgery and Prevention of corruption Act against 77 people. Asthana was mentioned in column two as he had died.
The untimely demise of Asthana caused a serious setback to the investigation as his confessional statement was vital to prove the missing links in the sequence of events, the spokesman said.
Despite this and the fact that a large number of documents in this case were missing, the CBI completed the investigation of this case taking the setbacks as challenges, the spokesman said.
The missing documents were painstakingly reconstructed and the chain of events completed by examination of more than 500 persons, scrutiny of more than 30,000 documents.
Assistance of the forensic experts of CFSL and GEQD laboratories was taken for ascertaining the authorship of the writings and signatures found on large number of incriminating documents, the spokesman said.
The CBI had taken up the case on the orders of Supreme Court
During the investigations, the CBI found no prosecutable evidence was found against 41 other Judges and Judicial Officers, 32 private persons, 7 Class-III employees and 36 Class-IV employees of District Court,
This includes 19 persons against whom the local police had filed chargesheet and five persons, who were named in the FIR but not chargesheeted till date. The CBI has recommended that they should be discharged.
