Corruption case against judicial officer: Haryana accords sanction to prosecute former CBI judge Sudhir Parmar

Top officials said that the sanction to prosecute Parmar, a member of Haryana superior judicial services in the rank of an additional district and sessions judge, was accorded recently by the state government under Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The sanction is necessary to prosecute a public servant booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act .

A first information report (FIR) was registered against the judicial officer, his nephew, Ajay Parmar and director of real estate company M3M India Pvt Ltd Roop Bansal by the ACB under sections 7, 8, 11 and 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and 120-B of the IPC for offences relating to a public servant being bribed, public servant obtaining undue advantage from a person concerned in proceeding or business transacted by such public servant and criminal misconduct by a public servant; and criminal conspiracy. Parmar was holding the charge of special CBI and PMLA courts in Panchkula when he was booked by the ACB on April 17, 2023.

“The ACB will now file a chargesheet in the trial court arraigning the under suspension judicial officer as an accused in the case to face trial,’’ said a top functionary. The Punjab and Haryana high court had earlier in January recommended that Parmar be tried by a court of law. The HC made the recommendation to the state government after examining the chargesheet prepared by the ACB. The ACB after investigating the matter for about 18 months had sought sanction of the state government to prosecute Parmar. The chargesheet was then sent to the high court by the investigating agency for its recommendation on the matter. As per norms prescribed by the high court, the state government should call for and follow the recommendation of the high court in such matters. “There are investigative findings in favour of the commission of the predicate offence which, therefore, exists,” special PMLA judge Rajeev Goyal had observed in his January 7, 2025 order with regards to ACB seeking sanction to prosecute the judicial officer. Phone recordings, WhatsApp chat formed the basis of case The FIR was registered by ACB on the basis of “reliable source information”, WhatsApp chats and recordings of the accused. The judicial officer has been accused of alleged favouritism to real estate developers Roop Bansal and his brother Basant Bansal of M3M and Lalit Goyal of IREO Group, as per the FIR registered by the ACB. The Bansals and Goyal were named as accused by the CBI and the ED in cases pending before the special CBI court -- a court that was presided over by Parmar.