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Onkar Singh in New Delhi
Ajit Bharihoke, the special judge for the Central Bureau of Investigation hearing a number of important cases, was suddenly transferred as additional rent controller, a nondescript posting, on Monday afternoon.
The fifty-year-old judge had joined the Delhi higher judicial service in the mid-seventies.
A Delhi University law graduate, Bharihoke had been designated special judge for the CBI in 1996. Since then, he had heard important cases like the Lakhubhai Pathak case in which the tantrik Chandraswami and former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao were initially accused.
He also heard the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MPs' bribery case in which Narasimha Rao and former home minister Buta Singh were convicted.
At the time of his transfer, Bharihoke was dealing with the all-important Bofors kickbacks case and had recently turned down an application by the three Hinduja brothers asking to be allowed to go abroad.
Another important case that Bharihoke was hearing involves former Union communications minister Sukh Ram, who has been charged with possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.
Incidentally, only last week former prime minister V P Singh's son Ajeya had appeared before Bharihoke and deposed in the St Kitts scandal in which his signatures had allegedly been forged by some bank officials at Chandraswami's behest.
The judicial community in Delhi was surprised at the timing of Bharihoke's transfer. But nobody was willing to stick his neck out as the orders came from the Delhi high court.
Complete Coverage: The Smoking Gun | The JMM Bribery Case
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