CBI books two Bar Council officials for bribe-taking

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Panchkula (Haryana), April 19 : Two senior officials of Bar Council of India (BCI) and the vice-chairman of a law college were booked for conspiring to ensure affiliation of the college in exchange for a bribe, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials said Tuesday.
Cases have been filed against BCI member Rajender Singh Rana, BCI associate managing trustee Daulat Ram Sharma, and Swami Devi Dyal College of Law's vice chairman Moti Lal Jindal, after CBI raided the college at Barwala, 30 km from Chandigarh, and Jindal's house at Manimajra and found irregularities in its affiliation.
Rana and Sharma had entered into a criminal conspiracy during October-November 2010 and received an illegal gratification of Rs.125,000 from Jindal for submitting a favourable report for allowing the continuance of LLB and BA-LLB (integrated) courses in the college, said a CBI official.
'Few days back, we had received a complaint highlighting gross irregularities in the affiliation given to the law college of the Swami Devi Dyal group. On the basis of that complaint, we registered a case and conducted these raids today (Tuesday),' CBI zonal director Mahesh Aggarwal told IANS.
'We have seized certain documents for further scrutiny,' he added.
Swami Devi Dyal College of Law was established in 2007. The college offers three-year and five-year law courses. It is located in Barwala in Panchkula district, some 30 km from the state capital Chandigarh.
Swami Devi Dyal group's vice president Ashok Jindal told IANS: 'In the morning, CBI officials first came to the house of the owner of the group. They searched all the documents, but when they did not find anything substantial, they went to the college.
'We do not know the exact reason behind this raid, but we think that it is related to the affiliation of the college. Few months back, a government official had come here to our law college to conduct survey and evaluation for the purpose of affiliation. Then, we got the news that he was arrested by police for possessing extra money and income.'
Swami Devi Dyal group runs institutes offering courses in engineering, pharmacy, management, medicine, education and hotel management.