Bar scam: CBI makes its first raid but suspect is missing

A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team today raided the house of a builder whose name figures in the list of 70 examples of fraud and ...

A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team today raided the house of a builder whose name figures in the list of 70 examples of fraud and forgery that recently came to light in the Patna High Court.

According to sources, a CBI team from Kolkata raided Anil Sharma’s house relating to a case of forgery and suppression of facts to get bail on two occasions. The team was unable to arrest Sharma, and failed to recover any evidence and returned to Kolkata.

As first reported by The Indian Express, members of the Bar working allegedly with court staff fudged orders in bail matters, writ petitions and appeals. The Registrar General, Sachinandan Mukherjee, had complied a report of the ‘‘perjured records’’, which included Anil Sharma’s name.

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Sharma was accused of getting bail twice on the basis of false information and forged orders. He was accused of murdering a rival builder in a shootout in Patna two years ago. After Sharma’s regular bail application was rejected by the Patna High Court, he applied for provisional bail for eight weeks so that he could travel to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi for treatment.

The court constituted a medical board comprising the superintendent and doctors of Patna Medical College Hospital to examine him.

However, a forged medical report was submitted in court, on the basis of which provisional bail was granted to Sharma. Investigations revealed that petitioner had never been produced before the medical board.

The Registrar (vigilance) and registrar were directed to conduct an inquiry, which found out that the medical board order had been forged and fabricated. The accused was remanded to judicial custody. The second time round, the petitioner, deponent Raja Ram Singh and his lawyer Gunjan Kumar filed another bail application in another court in the Patna High Court.

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This time, they reportedly suppressed the fact that Sharma had applied for bail earlier and denied that they had moved the court for regular or anticipatory bail. Sharma got bail on May 1 2002, and has been out since. This has been recorded in a court order dated May 16, 2002 by Justice P N Yadav.

The court observed: ‘‘The petitioner, his lawyer and pairvikars prima facie seem to be well-versed in procuring forged and fabricated medical report, producing the same in court, suppressing facts and securing bail by duping the court.’’ The court issued showcause notices to accused. But according to the Registrar General’s findings, the notice wasn’t served to Gunjan Kumar because he could not be found.