CBI gets green light to prosecute retired Allahabad High Court judge

The CBI got the green light from the High Court to take legal action against retired Allahabad High Court judge SN Shukla in a corruption case. This was stated by a senior CBI official on Friday.

An application was filed by the CBI on April 16 this year seeking permission to take legal action against retired judge Shukla of the Lucknow branch of the Allahabad High Court. Now that the agency has been given the green light by the High Court, it will be able to initiate legal proceedings against retired judge Shukla on corruption charges, the official said.

In the FRI filed by the CBI, besides Shukla, a retired judge of the Lucknow branch of the Allahabad High Court, a retired judge of the Chhattisgarh High Court, I.M. The names of Bhagwan Prasad Yadav and Palash Yadav of Kuddusi and Prasad Education Trust and two private persons named Bhavana Pandey and Sudhir Giri were also included.

A case was registered against all the accused under sub-section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and various provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The FIR alleges that one of the accused in the indictment was given a cash bribe by the Education Trust to give a verdict in his favor, the official said.

Quddusi was retired at the time of the crime and had acted as a private individual so there was no need to seek permission to prosecute him.

Judge Shukla of the Lucknow branch of the Allahabad High Court joined the High Court on October 5, 2005 and retired on July 17, 2020, according to the Allahabad High Court website. After registering the FIR, CBI officials raided several places in Meerut, Lucknow and Delhi.