The special court of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday convicted a former Punjab senior division judge, Manmohan Singh Walia, in a case of disproportionate assets (DA) registered in 1998.
According to the court, Walia amassed Rs 50 lakh assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. The quantum of sentence will be pronounced on December 21.
Walia, a Punjab judicial service officer, was held guilty of criminal misconduct under Sections 13 (1), (2) of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act by the court of additional district and sessions judge Gagan Geet Kaur.
The CBI had registered a case against Walia on March 24, 1998, on the directions of the Punjab and Haryana high court (HC).
{{/usCountry}}The CBI had registered a case against Walia on March 24, 1998, on the directions of the Punjab and Haryana high court (HC).
{{/usCountry}}Initially, Chandigarh Police had investigated the case after an HC internal probe found Walia guilty. On the HC’s complaint, the UT police had lodged an FIR against Walia, then a Bathinda court judge, on February 3, 1998. He had been suspended in November 1997, and subsequently dismissed from service.
HC lawyer, wife were complainants
The court had acted on the complaint of a Sector-9 resident and former HC lawyer BS Bindra and his wife Guddi Manjit.
Bindra had stated in his complaint that half portion of a house in Sector 9 was in his family’s name and the other half, in which Walia had started living, was in the name of HP Singh, a non-resident Indian (NRI), who was Walia’s “uncle”. Bindra had alleged that Walia had got the portion for himself in Singh’s name.
After the CBI initiated probe, it found fixed deposits of Rs 3 lakh in the accounts of Walia’s family members. Walia had claimed that it was on account of the properties sold by him.
Later, the CBI also seized documents pertaining to the agreement to sale and general power of attorney of the property from Walia’s possession. The CBI found debentures of Vardhman Mill worth Rs 12.5 lakh which were also encashed to his family members and into his wife’s account while documents pertaining to an investment of Rs 25 lakh was also unearthed in the name of Sehgal Motors at Ludhiana.
Walia had filed multiple petitions in the HC and Supreme Court, but on most occasions did not succeed in getting relief. Walia had alleged that Bindra had conspired with a former Punjab and Haryana HC judge, with whom Bindra practised at the Ludhiana courts and later at HC. However, the HC had termed the allegations “far-fetched”.