Chandigarh, June 14: A local court today extended the CBI custody of suspended civil judge S S Bhardwaj allegedly involved in a graft case, till June 18. The orders were handed down by chief judicial magistrate C L Mohal in a packed court room here after hearing arguments from the prosecution and the petitioner. Seeking ten days more of CBI custody, the prosecution submitted that the accused was not cooperating in the investigations and the mobile phone handed over by him to the investigation agency was not the same used by Bhardwaj while talking to R M Gupta, the suspended Jalandhar district and sessions judge, presently in judicial custody, and a few police officials.
The prosecution submitted that Satinderjit Singh, a clerk in the labour court, had been associated with Bhardwaj in the graft case and was absconding.
Arguing his case, Bhardwaj sought clarification from the investigation officer (IO) on a report published in certain section of media that the CBI had recovered about Rs 50 lakhs from his locker in Ferozepur and Amritsar.
"The news has been circulated to create terror among advocates who are contesting the case on my behalf," he contended adding, "I have no relations with Gupta and neither I have met him in the past eight years."
Bhardwaj, who was "arrested" by the CBI on June 10, submitted that the CBI could open any of his lockers in Ferozepur in presence of his lawyer or any family member.
He claimed he had no mobile phone with him. "The mobile phone I used in the past one month had been surrendered before the CBI," he added.
Bureau Report