Special CBI Judge Sanjeev Aggarwal enlarged Rachna Tiwari Lakhanpal, who was a senior civil judge at Tis Hazari Court and remanded to judicial custody after her arrest, on bail on furnishing of a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and surety of a like amount. She was suspended after her arrest.
During the arguments, the judge's counsel sought the relief saying there was no direct link between the complainant and the judicial officer whose courtroom has been sealed and she has to take care of her kids as her husband is in jail.
"CBI may say she is influential but post-trap and post- arrest, everything falls down. Court can put any condition on the judge and she would abide by it," he said.
CBI, however, opposed the bail plea saying the probe into the case was at an initial stage and the role of the accused has to be seen as she was an influential person.
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CBI prosecutor said there was a conspiracy behind the offence and they have to examine the footage of CCTV cameras installed at the judicial officer's house.
The defence counsel, however, said the judge had received some messages on 'Whatsapp' but she had not replied to them.
The judicial officer, her husband and Mehan were arrested by CBI on the night of September 28. Alok, a practicing lawyer, and Mehan are currently in judicial custody.
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CBI had claimed that during searches at the judge's residence, Rs 94 lakh case was seized by it along with two locker keys and other material.
"The advocate (appointed as LC) allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs two lakh for himself as well as Rs 20 lakh for the said senior civil judge for deciding the matter in favour of the complainant," it had said.
CBI had said its teams laid a trap at the designated place where the bribe was to be allegedly paid by Vishal.
The team then took the accused advocate to the residence of the judge where he allegedly handed over Rs 5 lakh to Lakhanpal while she gave Rs one lakh to the lawyer as his cut, it said, adding that the alleged bribe amount was also recovered by CBI.