Saw SC judge take Rs 21 lakh bribe: Congress MP

A Congress MP from Kerala has made a sensational statement, claiming he had in 1996 seen a Supreme Court judge accept a bribe of Rs 21 lakh to revoke a Kerala high court verdict. HT reports.

A Congress MP from Kerala has triggered a huge controversy, claiming to have seen a Supreme Court judge accept Rs 21 lakh as a bribe in 1996 to revoke a Kerala high court verdict.

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K Sudhakaran, MP from northern Kannur, made the claim on Saturday at a reception for former minister R Balakrishna Pillai, who was sentenced to a year's rigorous imprisonment by the Supreme Court on Thursday in a corruption case concerning the building of a dam.

However, Sudhakaran, also a lawyer, refused to name the judge. “I was witness to an incident where a Supreme Court judge accepted Rs 21 lakh bribe from bar owners to revoke a Kerala high court verdict which cancelled bar licences of 21 owners,” he said.

“I was in the Supreme Court to fight (a case). When my friend (a lawyer) told me about a particular judge, I couldn’t believe it. Then he asked me to join his team to witness the whole incident. Seeing was believing,” he said, adding that the same judge later asked for Rs 15 lakh more through a messenger.

The CPI(M) and other parties have asked Sudhakaran to come out with details of his bribery claim and also criticised his silence all these years.