PF scam: CBI demands warrant against 6 judges

Ghaziabad: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday demanded that non-bailable arrest warrant be issued against six judges in the Provident Fund scam. The investigating agency made the demand during a hearing before a special CBI court in Ghaziabad.
The court has summoned 10 judges in the case but none of them appeared even though a chargesheet has been filed against them. Claiming that the judges were not cooperating in the investigations, the CBI demanded non-bailable arrest warrant issued against them.
The CBI filed chargesheet against 78 people, including three former judges of Allahabad High Court and three district judges in the case.
Several senior judges had allegedly benefited from the scam, which ran to the tune of Rs 23 crore. The case became murkier after the key accused Ashutosh Asthana, died under mysterious circumstances at the Dasna jail.
The scam was exposed after special CBI judge Rama Jain lodged a criminal case against 70 people at Kavi Nagar police station in February 15, 2008 and Asthana was arrested.
The CBI chargesheet says that Asthana in collusion with six judges had fraudulently withdrawn cash from the court treasury. The CBI in its chargesheet says that an amount of Rs 6.58 crore was fraudulently taken out from the general provident fund of fake employees.
The three former Allahabad High Court judges and three district judges are accused of cheating and criminal conspiracy.