Cash at judge's door scam: Nirmal Yadav gets bail

Chandigarh: Former Punjab and Haryana High Court Judge Nirmal Yadav on Saturday appeared for the first time before the CBI Special Court hearing the 2008 cash-at-judge’s door scam and was granted bail after furnishing a bond.

Accompanied by her lawyer S K Garg and lawyer and family friend Preduman Yadav, 62-year-old Justice Yadav appeared before the Court of Special Judge Ritu Tagore nearly 30 minutes after the proceedings in the case had started. The trial court granted Justice Yadav bail on a surety of Rs 25,000, which was offered by Preduman Yadav. Justice Yadav was present inside the court for nearly 15 minutes and left immediately after signing the bail bond.

The court fixed September 16 as the next date of hearing in the case. Minutes before she arrived, a Chandigarh-based lawyer, who identified himself as M D S Gill, made an appearance before the court contending that he wanted to bring some “vital facts” pertaining to the case before the Court. “I have so much material (relating to the case) to expose the case, which I got just a week back,” Gill contended.

However, after learning that Gill was neither a complainant nor a witness, the judged directed him to follow proper procedure. “You have no locus standi in the case,” the judge told him, adding, “There is a procedure, move an application first or a lodge a complaint with the police.”

The Judge directed Gill to place whatever facts he had to say in his application and submit it to special public prosecutor in the case and senior lawyer Anupam Gupta. The CBI special court here had earlier summoned Justice Yadav to personally appear before it on May 19, July 9 and August 1, but she had failed to appear.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court was rocked by controversy after a sum of Rs 15 lakh was wrongly delivered at the residence of Justice Nirmaljit Kaur, another judge of the High Court here, on August 13, 2008, following which she reported the matter to Chandigarh Police. The money, allegedly meant for Justice Yadav, was said to have been delivered to Justice Kaur due to confusion over their names.

PTI