A senior civil judge of Tis Hazari court was arrested along with her husband by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday on charges of bribery in the national capital. She was arrested on allegations of receiving a bribe of Rs 4 lakhs from a lawyer, who was appointed as local commissioner in a case adjudicated by her. The lawyer Vishal Mehan who was giving a bribe of Rs 4 lakhs was also arrested by the agency on the spot.
[su_expand more_text=”READ MORE” less_text=” ” height=”0″ hide_less=”yes” link_style=”button” link_align=”center”]According to the sources, CBI spokesperson RK Gaur said that Senior Civil Judge Rachna Tiwari Lakhanpal posted at Tiz Hazari Courts, was arrested on Wednesday night while accepting a bribe of Rs 4 lakh from the advocate – Vishal Mehan at her residence in Gulabi Bagh. Mehan and Judge’s husband Alok Lakhanpal were also arrested.
“The agency carried out searches at the judge’s residence and cash amounting to Rs 94 lakhs was seized along with two locker keys and other incrementing documents,” said CBI official R K Gaur. The officer further stated that Rs 60 lakh was recovered from the bedroom and the rest of the recovered from children’s bedroom. There were two witnesses, both government officials, present during the raid.
A case was registered under section 7 and 8 of Prevention of Corruption Act (which deals with the offence related to gratification) against Mehan on a complaint alleging that in a matter being heard by a senior civil judge (West), Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi, she had appointed him as local commissioner for conducting an inspection of the disputed property and submitting his report.
Mehan allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 2 lakhs for himself as well as Rs 20 lakhs for the said Rachna Tiwari Lakhanpal for deciding the matter in favor of the complainant. The agency laid a trap where the bribe was to be allegedly paid by Mehan. As the bribe was being allegedly paid, CBI teams swung into action and nabbed the lawyer while he was “receiving” a bribe of Rs five lakhs from complainant purportedly on behalf of Lakhanpal, Gaur said.
Mehan said that the money was allegedly meant for the judge. The team then took the accused advocate to the residence of the judge where he allegedly handed over Rs 5 lakhs to Rachna while she gave Rs 1 lakh to the lawyer as his cut. “The alleged bribe money of Rs 5 lakhs was recovered by CBI,” said Gaur.
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