A special CBI judge who was suspended by the Punjab and Haryana high court two weeks ago has been charged with criminal misconduct and taking bribes as a public servant.

Sudhir Parmar, a Haryana judicial officer who held the charge of special CBI judge and special judge under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), Panchkula, until April 26, was arrested on April 17 under the Prevention of Corruption Act for alleged criminal misconduct and offences relating to a public servant being bribed.

On November 18, 2021, Parmar was appointed as a special CBI judge.

An additional district and sessions rank judge, Parmar, was presiding over the trial of several CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) cases involving real estate developers, retired officers and politicians. He was questioned by an ACB team on an April 18 morning raid at his official residence in Panchkula. He was placed under suspension by the high court chief justice on April 27 after an interlocutory application in the Supreme Court (SC) was filed by the HC seeking the permission of the apex court to transfer Parmar “in view of gravity and seriousness of the matter”.

The ACB registered the FIR against Parmar, his nephew, Ajay Parmar and Bansal, who is the director of real estate company M3M India Pvt Ltd, under Sections 7, 8, 11 and 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code for offences relating to a public servant being bribed, a public servant taking undue advantage without consideration from the person concerned in proceedings or business transacted by such public servant, criminal misconduct by a public servant and criminal conspiracy.

“Subsequently, when Parmar was transferred as special CBI and ED judge in November 2021, the annual package of his nephew was straightway hiked to ₹18 lakh to ₹20 lakh per annum. Parmar being special CBI/ED judge in connivance with the accused started favouring them for the sake of illegal gratification through his nephew,” the FIR said.