Ex-High Court Judge Nirmal Yadav Acquitted in Chandigarh ‘Cash-at-Door’ Case

Ex-High Court Judge Nirmal Yadav: A special court appointed by CBI has, on Saturday, acquitted Nirmal Yadav - the former Punjab and Haryana high court judge - in the 2008 corruption case.

Special judge of CBI, Alka Malik, announced this long waited verdict at the district courts complex in Chandigarh as per post lunch session.

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The original FIR was registered at the police station in Chandigarh on 13 August 2008, in this sensational case, which was declared the first by the nation in the history of judicial corruption whereby a sitting judge was booked for such act.

The prosecution alleged that a packet containing ₹15 lakh cash was accidentally delivered to the Sector 11 residence of justice Nirmaljit Kaur, who happened to be an existing judge at the high court at that time; she then complained to the police leading to the registration of an FIR. The police clarified the cash was meant for justice Nirmal Yadav only. At the same time, Yadav was being accused of having received the cash in exchange for a favoured judgment in Panchkula in 2007 regarding a property dispute between three other accused involved in the case: Sanjeev Bansal, former Haryana additional advocate general; Rajiv Gupta, a property dealer; and Ravinder Singh Bhasin, who was a hotelier based in Delhi.

Yadav went on leave after her name figured in the scandal in 2008 and was subsequently sent to the high court of Uttarakhand.

The case was handed over to the CBI within a fortnight of the incident. Both an internal panel of the Supreme Court and CBI cleared justice Nirmaljit Kaur, who was also transferred to the Rajasthan high court in July 2012. In 2018, she returned to Punjab and Haryana high court and retired in 2021.

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In 2009, closure report to CBI was filed which was dismissed declaring that no case was made out.

However, CBI court after hearing the arguments rejected the closure report and ordered CBI to re-investigate. On July 28, 2010, the then Chief Justice of India sanctioned prosecution of CBI against Nirmal Yadav and the clearance from the President of India came on March 1, 2011.

On 3rd March 2011, CBI filed the charge sheet in the case, just a day before Yadav was to retire from service. Justice Yadav approached both the high court and Supreme Court twice, unsuccessfully against proceedings in this case. In 2014, the CBI court ordered framing of charges against all the accused in the case including justice Nirmal Yadav. The trial ended on March 27th.

Out of a total of 69 witnesses, 13 became hostile. Four died in the meantime. Of several important hostile witnesses, the personal security officer of justice Yadav, Renu Bansal (the wife of Sanjiv Bansal), Raj Kumar Jindal (cousin of Sanjeev Bansal) and Santosh Tripathi, a former colleague of Bansal, can be mentioned. Sanjeev Bansal, whose clerk misheard and thus misdelivered the money to justice Nirmaljit Kaur's residence, succumbed to brain tumor during the pendency of the trial. Many judges have heard the case, at least 300 times, during these 17 years.

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