SC asks for name of Judges not under scanner of CBI in GPF Scam

The Supreme Court today directed the CBI to file a fresh status report within a week giving the names of those judges who are no longer under the scanner of the investigating agency in Rs 7-crore Ghaziabad district court GPF scam. A bench comprising Justices Arijit Pasayat, V S Sirpurkar and G S Singhvi issued the directions after the CBI sought more time to submit third status report in connection with the provident fund scam in which 36 judges, including one sitting Supreme Court judge, 11 High Court judges and 24 District and Session judges who have been posted in Ghaziabad in time to time, were named as beneficiaries. The CBI has already submitted two status reports in sealed cover to the Supreme Court. The apex court had ordered a CBI inquiry into the scam and for the first time in the history of Independent India sitting Supreme Court and High Court judges were subjected to the CBI interrogation. The prime accused in the case Ashutosh Asthana had in his statement, recorded by special judge Rama Jain under Section 164 of the CrPC has named 36 judges as beneficiaries of the scam. This statement was on the basis of the FIR lodged by the judge with Ghaziabad police which later expressed its inability to conduct investigation into the case because of the involvement of High Court judges of Allahabad and Uttarakhand, some of whom are already retired. GPF money was allegedly fraudulently siphoned off from 2001 to 2007 and according to the petitioner, Nahar Singh Yadav, the total amount involved in the scam is Rs 23 crore and not Rs 7 crore as alleged in the FIR. Sitting Supreme Court judge Justice Tarun Chatterjee was also questioned by the CBI along with other High Court judges who have been named in the scam. According to the CBI Rs 4 crore was fraudulently withdrawn in 2007 alone when Mr Chobey was the district and sessions judge in Ghaziabad.

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