CBI Court Delhi summons retired Allahabad HC judge Narayan Shukla in Bribery case

A Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Court Delhi has summoned Narayan Shukla, a retired judge of the Allahabad High Court, and other accused persons charged in the medical college bribery case, to appear before it on July 29.

On July 7, the Special CBI court took cognizance of the chargesheet filed against Shukla, accused of accepting a bribe in exchange for passing an order in favor of a Lucknow-based medical college.

Special CBI Judge Prashant Kumar at Rouse Avenue Court noted that a review of the record reveals that sufficient evidence exists against the accused persons to proceed under the relevant sections (pertaining to criminal conspiracy and prevention of corruption act) for which a charge sheet has been filed.

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 were all charged by the federal agency.

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 in July 2020, is accused of accepting a bribe in exchange for passing an order that favored the Lucknow-based medical college, which had been barred from admitting students by the Medical Council of India (MCI), the country's medical education regulator, in May 2017. The government granted sanctions to prosecute him in November.

The CBI had filed two cases in the matter, the first in September 2017 naming Quddusi and middlemen, and the second in December 2019 naming Shukla.

CBI claimed that in its first charge sheet, filed in July 2019, the accused persons including Quddusi, used code words such as ped (plant), gamla (pot), samaan (goods), and prasad (offering) to refer to bribes allegedly to be paid to a certain "captain" to obtain a favorable order for Prasad Institute.

Medical Council of India (MCI) had barred the Lucknow-based medical co and 46 other medical colleges, from admitting students for the academic years 2017-18 and 2018-19 due to substandard facilities and failure to meet required criteria.

Prasad Institute had initially challenged the MCI's decision in the Supreme Court.

According to the CBI, a conspiracy was hatched, and the petition was withdrawn from the Supreme Court.

On August 24, 2017, a writ petition was filed before the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court.

Former Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra ordered an investigation into Shukla after receiving a complaint alleging judicial malpractice from Uttar Pradesh Advocate General Raghvendra Singh.

In January 2018, a three-member committee comprised of the then Madras High Court Chief Justice Indira Banerjee, then-Sikkim High Court Chief Justice SK Agnihotri, and Madhya Pradesh High Court Judge PK Jaiswal found Shukla guilty of judicial irregularities and recommended impeachment to the President of India.

Shukla, who was a sitting judge at the Allahabad high court's Lucknow bench at the time, was barred from entering the court premises and all judicial and administrative work had been taken away from him.

In July 2019, former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi granted the CBI permission to file a case in the matter. Gogoi also recommended Shukla's removal in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Shukla retired in July 2020.

[Source: HT]