Karnataka HC judges cleared in sex scandal

A high-level judicial inquiry committee on Sunday gave a clean chit to three Karnataka high court judges in the Mysore sex scandal after a thorough probe.

The committee, which submitted its report to the Chief Justice of India, said it found 'no evidence' against the judges --- Justice N S Vervadraiah, Justice Chandrasekhariah and Justice V Gopalagowda.

The report of the committee, which comprised of Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court Justice C K Thakkar, Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court Justice J L Gupta and Senior Judge of the Orissa High Court Justice A K Patnaik, comes after an extensive probe lasting more than two months.

During the probe, the committee spoke to a wide cross section of people, including the owner of the resort in question at Mysore and a few journalists, sources in New Delhi said.

The voluminous report was submitted by the members of the committee to the Chief Justice of India V N Khare at his residence this afternoon.

The sources said the committee gave extensive detail of its probe but concluded that it could not find any substantive evidence against the three judges to link them to the alleged activities.

The enquiry committee was set up by the then Chief Justice G B Pattanaik on the basis of a report submitted by the Chief Justice of Karnataka high court on the allegations about the involvement of the judges in the scandal.