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CBI arrests Magistrate

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI JUNE 10. The Central Bureau of Investigation today arrested the Judicial Magistrate, S.S. Bhardwaj, allegedly involved in a bribery scandal, from Panchkula near Chandigarh.

The arrest of the suspended Chandigarh Civil Judge came a day after the Supreme Court dismissed his anticipatory bail plea. Mr. Bhardwaj's whereabouts were not known after the CBI allegedly caught him accepting a bribe of Rs. 7 lakhs for himself and another Sessions Judge of Jalandhar, R. M. Gupta. The sessions judge is already under judicial custody.

The CBI spokesman, G. Mohanty, said the Magistrate was arrested from his relative's residence in Panchkula by a CBI team which had kept surveillance on him. He discounted reports suggesting that Mr. Bhardwaj had surrendered.

The two judicial officers were trapped on the complaint by a medical practitioner, G.S. Samra. The CBI had raided a number of places in the last one month looking for Mr. Bhardwaj in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana. His lawyers maintained that he was not running away from the law but was only exploring all legal options available to him.

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