By IANS,
New Delhi : A city court Thursday ordered the framing of charges against former Delhi High Court judge Shameet Mukherjee and four others in a Delhi Development Authority (DDA) land scam.
The former judge is in the dock for allegedly giving an order favouring a co-accused who had allegedly encroached upon DDA land and was involved in legal battle with the capital’s land management agency.
Additional Sessions Judge I.K. Kochhar found there was prima facie evidence against the former judge, former DDA vice-chairman Subhash Sharma and three others under various provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Besides Mukherjee and Sharma, personal secretary to former DDA vice-chairman Ashok Kapoor, sacked Delhi Police constable Vinod Khatri and alleged middleman Dharambir Khattar were ordered to be present in the court for the framing of charges May 24.
The land was required for widening the Aruna Asaf Ali Road but the project could not proceed due to the alleged nexus between the accused, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which probed the scam alleged.
The probe agency submitted 19 CDs of alleged conversations among the accused, including Mukherjee, in the court. The agency described them as “crucial evidence” for linking the accused with the offence.
The CBI, in a charge-sheet filed in April 2005, had said that it shortlisted around 100 calls of Mukherjee and other accused to support its allegations that the accused abused their official position to extend benefits to other co-accused.
The CBI unearthed the scam involving top DDA officials in 2003 and the judge, leading to registration of four separate corruption cases against them.