Ghaziabad, Feb 18 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court here Friday adjourned till March 14 the hearing of the provident fund (PF) scam involving misappropriation of funds in the accounts of class III and IV employees of the Ghaziabad court.
CBI judge A.K. Singh adjourned the hearing in view of the strike called by the Ghaziabad bar association on Ravidas Jayanti.
A sum of Rs.6.58 crore was fraudulently withdrawn from the PF accounts of class III and IV employees of the Ghaziabad district court between 2001 and 2007.
The scam was exposed after special CBI judge Rama Jain lodged a criminal case against 70 people at Kavi Nagar police station Feb 15, 2008. No judge was, however, named in the FIR.
While Ashutosh Asthana, the key accused who died in Dasna Jail in mysterious circumstances Nov 18, 2009, had named 36 judges of the Supreme Court, high court and district courts as accused, the apex court permitted the CBI to prosecute only six of them, now retired.
The CBI claimed to have found details in the manner in which the fund money was illegally siphoned out and lavishly spent on furniture, crockery, mobile phones, electronic gadgets and appliances, laptops, rail tickets, taxi fare and other luxury items for the judges.
–Indo-Asian News service
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