CBI books former Allahabad HC judge in disproportionate assets case

The CBI has booked former Allahabad High Court judge S N Shukla, who is being probed for allegedly favouring a medical college owner, in a fresh case of amassing disproportionate assets worth over Rs 2.54 crore in the name of family members, officials said Wednesday.

The CBI had carried out searches after it booked Shukla, then a judge of the Lucknow bench of the High Court, and others in December 2019 under Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

During the probe, the agency claimed it found property documents and other assets, the officials said. The CBI found it from its sources that Shukla allegedly amassed assets worth over Rs 2.54 crore in the name of family members during 2014-19 and could not give a satisfactory explanation on the source of income, they said.

The agency said the former judge "intentionally enriched himself illicitly and acquired assets by corrupt and illegal means in the name of Suchita Tiwari with whom he is residing", the CBI FIR alleged.

The agency said in the FIR that Tiwari claimed to be the "second wife" of Justice Shukla. "The above facts prima facie disclose that S N Shukla has acquired assets in the name of Suchita Tiwari and Saideen Tiwari (brother of first wife) during the check period April 01, 2014, to December 06, 2019, to the tune of Rs. 2.54 crore (165 per cent above his known sources of income)," the FIR alleged.

According to the High Court website, Shukla joined the Allahabad HC on October 5, 2005, and retired on July 17, 2020.

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