The Hindu : DDA case: ex-judge remanded

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Friday, May 02, 2003

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DDA case: ex-judge remanded

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI MAY 1. A Special Court for CBI cases here today remanded the former Judge of the Delhi High Court, Shameet Mukherjee, to seven days' police remand for alleged involvement in the Delhi Development Authority land scandal case. The CBI had asked for seven days custody.

The Special Judge, V.K. Jain, allowed the CBI to interrogate Mr. Mukherjee on how a draft judgment in a case pertaining to encroachment on Government land as well as case files of five matters pending before him reached Dharambir Khattar, a broker who allegedly worked as a conduit between the Judge and land grabbers and builders.

Mr. Jain overruled all objections raised by counsel for the accused. "Keeping in view the background of the case and the serious nature of the allegations which find a prima facie substantiation from the conversations recorded by the CBI, custodial interrogation is vital and necessary to unearth the conspiracy and ascertain the true facts,'' he ruled.

``The CBI has already collected some evidence which prima facie indicates accumulation of assets by the accused. Therefore he must be questioned on the source of the assets as well,'' Mr. Jain added.

"The court also cannot ignore the fact that judicial files of the Delhi High Court reached the premises of Khattar.''

The Judge also dismissed a plea by counsel for the accused that retiring or serving judges had immunity from prosecution for what they did while discharging official functions. ``Prima facie I have not been able to persuade myself that even if a judge has been indulging in corruption and misusing his official position and accepting illegal gratification while performing his functions as a judge, the law gives him or her absolute immunity from prosecution,'' Mr. Jain asserted.

Mr. Mukherjee was arrested on Wednesday following raids at his official and private residential premises and the subsequent interrogation at the CBI headquarters.

Leading lawyers of the Delhi High Court and former and current office-bearers of the Delhi High Court Bar Association were present in the court today.

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