With the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation now expected to probe the money laundering part of the corruption case which has been filed against ex-CBI judge Sudhir Parmar and two others, trouble may brew for Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sudhanshu Mittal whose name finds mention in the same First Information Report (FIR) under the Prevention of Corruption Act in which the judge has been booked.
Mr Mittal, who was considered a protege of late BJP strongman Pramod Mahajan, is said to be close to influential people in power and some judges.
Also, booked in the case by the Anti-Corruption Bureau of Panchkula, Haryana are judge Parmar’s nephew, Ajay Parmar and Roop Bansal, the director of real estate company, M3M India Pvt Ltd.
According to an audio recording which is part of the FIR, the judge claimed to have met Sudhanshu Mittal, the brother-in-law of Lalit Goyal of Ireo who was arrested in 2021 for offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, and assured him of several concessions in the course of judicial proceedings.
The agencies will carry out the investigations under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after an enforcement case information report (ECIR) is lodged on the basis of the April 17 FIR registered by ACB under Sections 7, 8, 11 and 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code.
The case was registered for offences pertaining to bribery of a public servant, undue advantage being taken by a public servant, criminal conspiracy and criminal misconduct.
Parmar was suspended on April 27, after an FIR was registered on April 17, and was accused of favouritism in his treatment of real estate developers Roop Bansal and his brother Basant Bansal of M3M and Lalit Goyal of IREO Group, the FIR states.
The Goyals and Bansals have been named as accused by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and ED in cases pending before the special CBI court – a court that was presided over by Parmar.
What was the case against Parmar and Goyal?
A case under PMLA was filed against Lalit Goyal and he was subsequently arrested for cheating home buyers and giving bribe. Goyal was the vice-chairman and managing director of realty giant IREO Group in November 2021 and had allegedly cheated home buyers.
In February 2022, ED presented a prosecution complaint (challan) against Goyal.
Screenshots of WhatsApp messages between Parmar and another person in which he demands Rs 5 crore to Rs 7 crore for helping the M3M owners in ED cases were found. He requests the person to receive the money on his behalf. In the same chat, the person says that ?5 crore has already been given to Parmar by the accused in the IREO case, the FIR states.
“More recordings revealed that Parmar, during yet another conversation TV admitted that he did not let Roop Bansal become an accused in the ED cases,” as per the FIR.