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Court summons retired judge in bribery case
A special CBI court has summoned former Allahabad high court judge, Shri Narayan Shukla, to appear before it on July 29.
A special Delhi court has summoned Shri Narayan Shukla, a retired judge of the Allahabad high court, and other accused persons charged in medical college bribery scandal, to appear before it on July 29.
The special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on July 7 took cognizance of the charge sheet against the former justice, who is accused of taking a bribe for passing an order that favoured a Lucknow-based medical college.
“Perusal of the record reflects that sufficient material is available against accused persons to proceed ahead under the relevant sections (pertaining to criminal conspiracy and prevention of corruption act) for which charge sheet has been filed,” special CBI judge Prashant Kumar at Rouse Avenue Court said.
The federal agency had pressed charges against Shukla, former Odisha high court judge I M Quddusi, Bhagwan Prasad Yadav and Palash Yadav of Prasad Education Trust in Lucknow, an intermediary Bhawana Pandey and another alleged middleman Sudhir Giri in the matter.
To substantiate the charges against the two judges and other accused persons, the CBI included call records in the charge sheet, filed in the second week of December 2021.
Shukla, who retired from service in July 2020, is accused of taking a bribe for passing an order that favoured the Lucknow-based medical college, which was debarred in May 2017 from admitting students by the Medical Council of India (MCI), the country’s medical education regulator. HT had first reported that the government accorded sanction in November to prosecute him.
The CBI filed two cases in the matter, one in September 2017 naming Quddusi and middlemen, and another in December 2019 naming Shukla.
In its first charge sheet filed in July 2019, the agency claimed that the accused persons including Quddusi used code words such as ped (plant), gamla (pot), samaan (goods) and prasad (offering) while referring to bribes allegedly to be paid to a certain “captain” to get a favourable order for Prasad Institute.
The Lucknow-based medical college was debarred by MCI from admitting students for academic years 2017-18 and 2018-19 due to substandard facilities and non-fulfilment of required criteria, along with 46 other medical colleges.
The MCI’s decision was initially challenged by Prasad Institute before the Supreme Court.
According to the CBI, a conspiracy was hatched and the petition was withdrawn from the top court, and a writ petition was filed before the Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court on August 24, 2017.
Quddusi and BP Yadav of Prasad Trust met justice Shukla on the morning of August 25, 2017, at his residence in Lucknow, which is when the bribe is believed to have been exchanged, CBI has claimed, while adding that the petition was heard the same day by the division bench of the high court comprising justice Shukla, and a favourable order was passed.
Former Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra ordered an investigation against Shukla on a complaint by Uttar Pradesh advocate general Raghvendra Singh alleging judicial malpractice. A three-member committee comprising the then Madras high court chief justice Indira Banerjee, the then Sikkim high court chief justice SK Agnihotri and Madhya Pradesh high court judge PK Jaiswal, found Shukla guilty of judicial irregularities in January 2018, after which his impeachment was recommended to the President of India.
Shukla, who was a sitting judge at the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court at the time, was debarred from entering the court premises, and all the judicial and administrative work was taken away from him.
Later, in July 2019, former chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi gave permission to CBI to file a case in the matter. Gogoi also wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, recommending Shukla’s removal. Shukla eventually retired in July 2020.
