PF scam: CBI completes interrogation of judges

NEW DELHI: CBI on Thursday told the Supreme Court that it had accomplished a major task in the probe into the Rs 23 crore PF scam in Ghaziabad judiciary by completing interrogation of all 23 judicial officers and 11 sitting and retired judges of various high courts.

On the mysterious death of key accused Ashutosh Asthana, CBI informed the court that viscera of the deceased was sent to AIIMS and a report on the cause of death would be available in 10 days.

Asthana, the former treasury officer, had allegedly gifted judicial officers and judges with furniture, crockery, mobile phones, electronic gadgets and appliances from the money siphoned out of PF accounts of unsuspecting class III and IV employees in the district court.

CBI, in its fresh status report, the fifth, informed a Bench comprising Justices D K Jain, V S Sirpurkar and G S Singhvi about progress made in the probe and wanted it to direct Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory (CFSL), Hyderabad, to expedite the examination of handwriting.

CFSL pleaded that it would complete its examination of voluminous documents by February. But the Bench directed it to do so expeditiously and send a report by January 31, 2010.

Appearing for CBI, attorney general G E Vahanvati wanted to know whether the Bench was keen on finding a trial court in Delhi for transfer of the case from Ghaziabad as was requested by petitioner Nahar Singh Yadav and NGO Transparency International���s India chapter.

The Bench said the option of transferring the trial to Delhi could wait till CBI completed its probe and posted the matter in mid-March next year for further hearing with a clear direction to the agency to try and complete its investigation by then.

The SC had entrusted the probe to CBI after UP police, which first probed the matter, chickened out terming the task of investigating 35 judges as daunting.