PF scam: CBI court asks accused judges to appear tomorrow

Ghaziabad, Feb 17 (PTI) A special CBI court heretrying the Rs 6.58-crore Provident Fund scam has asked all thesix accused retired judges to appear before it tomorrow,failing which warrants would be issued against them.

The former judges were directed by the CBI court toappear before it on January 30. But the judges sought sometime on medical grounds.

They submitted their medical certificates statingtheir inability to be present in the court. Special CBI judgeA K Singh allowed their medical certificates on condition thatthey appear before it on February 18.

The six accused judges - R P Yadav, R P Mishra, R NMishra, R S Chaubey, Arun Kumar and A K Singh - also did notappear in the court despite summons issued to them on earliertwo hearing dates on December 21, 2010 and January 13.

Justice R N Mishra, who had retired as a judge of theAllahabad High Court in 2009, had challenged the summonscontending that the CBI judge was himself a witness in thecase and hence he should not have passed an order in thisconnection. But the high court turned down his petition.

The high court, however, ruled that those who wantedexemption from personal appearance in the case could move anapplication before the CBI court in this regard.

The CBI filed a charge sheet against 78 people in thecase involving alleged fraudulent withdrawal of crores ofrupees, between 2001 and 2008, from Provident Funds ofemployees posted at Ghaziabad district court.

All the six judges are charged under IPC sections 420,468, 471 and 120 b along with other offences.

Legal exerts say that the judges can be sent to jailif they appear before the court.