Local Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sudhanshu Mittal’s name features in the First Information Report under the Prevention of Corruption Act filed against the now-suspended Special CBI judge Sudhir Parmar by the Haryana Anti-Corruption Bureau.

According to an audio recording forming part of the FIR, the judge claimed to have met Mr. Mittal, the brother-in-law of Lalit Goyal, arrested in 2021 for offenses under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, and assured him of several concessions in the course of judicial proceedings.

Goyal, who heads the IREO group, was arrested after being accused of defrauding home buyers and siphoning off funds received from them.

The name of Mr Mittal, a close associate of deceased BJP leader Pramod Mahajan, has often been linked with the real estate company, although he denies any involvement in its affairs.

The FIR quotes an audio recording to say that Mr. Parmar met Mr. Mittal and Mrs. Lalit Goyal and “assured them that although he cannot release Lalit Goyal on bail in PMLA case, yet he would favour him by dealing with him in court in a respectful manner and not harass him by issuing frequent warrant/notices, or denying permission to visit abroad etc. and make him feel at home while in court.”

The FIR describes the alleged dealings of Mr. Parmar with the promoters of two Gurugram-based real- ty companies, IREO and M3M, and relies on source information, audio recordings and WhatsApp chats.

Cases under various sections of PMLA and under Section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code have been registered against the judge for allegedly showing favoritism in lieu of undue advantage to Roop Bansal and his brother Basant Bansal of M3M and Lalit Goyal of IREO, accused in CBI and ED cases pending in the special court presided over by him. The FIR says: “The source has provided screenshots of WhatsApp chats between Parmar and another person in which he demands Rs 5 crore to Rs 7 crore for helping the M3M owners in ED cases and requests the person chatting with him to receive the bribe on his behalf. In the same chat, the person says that Rs 5 crore has already been given to Parmar by the accused in the IREO case”.

Mr Parmar is also accused of having used his earlier position as Additional District and Sessions Judge, Gurugram, to establish contacts with the realtors and get his nephew, Ajay Parmar appointed as Legal Adviser to M3M at a salary of Rs 12 lakh per annum. When he was transferred as Special CBI Judge, this was hiked to Rs 18-20 lakh per annum, according to the FIR.

The FIR was registered last month after seeking per mission from the Chief Justice of the Punjab & Haryana High Court, who placed Mr Parmar under suspension on 27 April.