E-Paper
Cash at judge’s door: One witness retracts statement
On October 3, 2008, in his statement to the CBI, Onil Kumar Dewan, from Delhi, had said he ran a construction company and knew Ravinder Singh, the main accused, who allegedly sent money to retired high court judge Nirmal Yadav – who was his neighbour.
In the 2008 cash-at-judge’s-door scam, one of the witnesses has retracted his statement before the special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court here on Saturday.
On October 3, 2008, in his statement to the CBI, Onil Kumar Dewan, from Delhi, had said he ran a construction company and knew Ravinder Singh, the main accused, who allegedly sent money to retired high court judge Nirmal Yadav – who was his neighbour.
He had said, “Ravinder Singh introduced me to justice Nirmal Yadav in February-March 2008 in connection with renovation of her house in Gurgaon and I got the said renovation work of the house through Ravinder Singh.”
“I started the work in March 2008 but left it unfinished in June 2008 due to misbehaviour of justice Yadav’s husband. As on date, in addition to my fees, the payment for the labour charges was pending,” he had said in his statement to the CBI.
However, on Saturday, while recording his statement in the CBI court, Onil Kumar denied that Ravinder Singh had introduced him to justice yadav.
When asked by the prosecution that “you had stated that accused Ravinder Singh asked you to renovate the house of justice Nirmal Yadav at Gurgaon? Is it correct or incorrect?”
To this, Onil Kumar said “this is incorrect.”
He told the court it was justice Yadav, who contacted him and not Ravinder Bhasin. “I do not know justice Nirmal Yadav, but she had called me for renovation of her house. This was over 10 years ago.”
The witness retracted from the statement, but was not declared hostile by CBI. Now, the matter will come up for hearing on September 7.
