CBI Files Corruption Case Against Former Allahabad HC Judge SN Shukla

CBI filed a corruption case against former Allahabad High Court judge SN Shukla.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) office

A case has been filed against SN Shukla, a former Allahabad High Court judge and his wife for allegedly amassing assets worth 2.45 crore rupees in excess of his known source of income during his tenure as a judge of the High Court from 2014 to 2019.

"CBI has registered a case against Justice SN Shukla, Retd Judge of the Allahabad HC and his wife Suchita Tiwari for allegedly amassing assets worth Rs 2.45 crore disproportionate to his known source of income during his tenure as the judge of the HC between 2014-19," said investigating agency quoted by news agency ANI.

CBI has registered a case against Justice SN Shukla, Retd Judge of the Allahabad HC and his wife Suchita Tiwari for allegedly amassing assets worth Rs 2.45 crore disproportionate to his known source of income during his tenure as the judge of the HC between 2014-19: CBI pic.twitter.com/DkjeNeaprd

— ANI (@ANI) February 22, 2023

After booking Shukla, then a judge on the Lucknow bench of the High Court, and others in December 2019 under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, the CBI conducted searches.

According to the officials, the agency claimed to have discovered property documents and other assets during the investigation.

According to the CBI, Shukla allegedly accumulated assets worth more than Rs 2.54 crore in the names of family members between 2014 and 2019, but they were unable to provide a satisfactory explanation for the source of income.  

The CBI FIR alleged that 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 agency said the former judge "intentionally enriched himself illicitly."

In the FIR, the agency stated that Tiwari claimed to be Justice Shukla's "second wife."

"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.

Shukla joined the Allahabad High Court on October 5, 2005, and retired on July 17, 2020, according to the website for the court.

On December 4, 2019, the premier investigating agency filed a corruption case against the then-sitting Allahabad High Court judge SN Shukla, IM Quddusi, a retired Chhattisgarh High Court judge, and four others for obtaining a favorable order in exchange for money for a Lucknow-based medical college.

In 2018, the then-Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra, recommended for Justice SN Shukla's impeachment after the Supreme Court's in-house investigation revealed his gross misconduct. However, despite Justice Ranjan Gogoi's follow-up with the central government, he was not impeached.