‘Wine, women’ got him: Court says try ex-HC judge

New Delhi, May 24 2003 land scam: Former DDA v-c also accused
Former Delhi High Court judge Shameet Mukherjee and four others, including a former DDA vice-chairman, were on Saturday ordered by a city court to stand trial in connection with a 2003 land scam.
Additional sessions Judge I K Kochhar found sufficient prima facie evidence against all five accused under various charges of Prevention of Corruption Act and Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Besides Mukherjee, others against whom charges have been framed are ex-DDA vice-chairman Subhash Sharma, his secretary Ashok Kapoor, Dharambir Khattar (a middleman), and Vinod Khatri (a city restaurant owner).
According to the FIR - registered on April 29, 2003 by CBI - Mukherjee, then dealing with DDA cases, had abused his official position and entered into a conspiracy with the others to provide financial advantage to Khatri over a disputed land on Aruna Asaf Ali Road.
The CBI has alleged that the former HC judge had accepted “unlawful gratifications” from the accused to pass a favourable order for Khatri, owner of Sahara restaurant.
The disputed land was situated across the road from Khatri’s restaurant and he wanted to grab the property, the CBI claimed. Khatri, the agency said, had already built a structure there and dumped garbage.
The probe agency said Khattar acted as liaison between Mukherjee and DDA’s Sharma, and sought to strike a deal with Khatri to provide him a judicial order.
According to the FIR, while “wine and women” took in Mukherjee, Sharma was to be paid consideration for his illegal act of helping Khatri’s case by appointing a favourable lawyer on behalf of DDA. Mukherjee had also passed a favourable order in February 2003, pointing to his complicity, the agency had contended.
Seeking prosecution for the accused, CBI had produced 105 documents, statements of 90 prosecution witnesses, 100 intercepted call records, and 15 other material objects. Mukhejee, who was arrested in April 2003 and is out on bail, claimed he could not be prosecuted as his action was not beyond the judicial realm of bonafide authority of a judge. The others also claimed innocence. But the court noted there was enough evidence to try the accused. From evidence presented before the court “it can safely be inferred at this stage that Shamit Mukherjee in his capacity as a Judge of High Court of Delhi had abused his official position,” the court ruled. It said he received, through Khattar, “illegal gratification in the form of material objects, including his mobile phone, the other “samaan” (objects), wine and women to satisfy illegal designs of Khatri, who was in the process of expanding his illegal empire by usurping government land.” The case comes up for hearing on Monday.
Express News Service
Posted online: Sunday , May 25, 2008 at 12:06:57Updated: Sunday , May 25, 2008 at 12:06:57
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