The Delhi High Court has extended the suspension of Delhi High Court judge Rachna Tiwari Lakhanpal by another 120 days.
This is the fourth extension of suspension for Ms. Lakhanpal, who was arrested by the CBI last year for allegedly accepting a bribe of ₹4 lakh from an advocate acting on behalf of a complainant.
The senior civil judge at the Tis Hazari Courts was suspended by the High Court on September 29, 2016 after her arrest.
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Delhi High Court Registrar General Dinesh Kumar Sharma last week ordered, “…the suspension of Ms Rachna Tiwari Lakhanpal will continue for a further period of 120 days beyond December 21, 2017”.
Ms. Lakhanpal and her husband Alok Lakhanpal were arrested while allegedly accepting a bribe from an advocate, Vishal Mehan. Mehan had been appointed local commissioner in a case adjudicated by Ms. Lakhanpal to inspect a disputed property and submit his report.
The CBI said Mehan had allegedly demanded a bribe of ₹2 lakh for himself and ₹20 lakh for the judge from the complainant for an order deciding the matter in his favour.
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The agency said its team had laid a trap at the designated place where the bribe was to be paid to Mehan. As the bribe of ₹5 lakh was being handed over, the CBI team nabbed the lawyer.
The team then took the lawyer to the residence of the judge where he allegedly handed over the ₹5 lakh to Ms. Lakhanpal, who was arrested as she then gave ₹1 lakh to the lawyer as his cut, the agency said.
The suspended judge was granted bail by a special court on October 3, 2016 considering that there was nobody to look after her two minor children since her husband was also under custody.