A senior judge, who forms part of a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court, on Monday recused himself from hearing cases challenging a detention order under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act, saying he had been offered a huge amount for delivering a verdict in favour of the accused.
The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau, meanwhile, opened an inquiry on its own into the allegation. VACB Director Jacob Thomas ordered the Special Cell, Vigilance, Kochi, to probe the matter. Justice K.T. Sankaran orally made the revelation when habeas corpus petitions filed by relatives of eight accused in the case came up for hearing.
Rs. 25 lakh promised
The Judge orally observed in the open court that he had been offered Rs.25 lakh as initial amount.
At the High Court, the Bench, which included Justice A. Hariprasad, in its order, said: “quite unfortunately, we are not in a position to hear the cases for reasons beyond our control…one of us [Justice Sankaran] is not in a position to hear these cases owing to certain subsequent unfortunate events.”
