Chandigarh, June 10
Exactly a month after the absconding Chandigarh Civil Judge-cum-Judicial Magistrate, S.S. Bhardwaj, escaped from the custody of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the judicial officer today landed at the Sector 30 office of the agency at about 10 am here.

The judicial officer had been caught red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 7 lakh at his official residence in Sector 22, Chandigarh, on May 10. Two cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act had been registered on a complaint lodged by Dr G.S. Samra.

While a counsel of the judicial officer, Mr Ashish Sharma, along with a relative of Bhardwaj, Mr S.C. Sharma, a resident of Sector 21, Panchkula, who facilitated the “surrender”, said the judicial officer had surrendered, the spokesman for the CBI in a press statement claimed the judicial officer had been arrested from the house of his relative in Sector 21, Panchkula, this morning.

The CBI stated that it received a tip-off about Bhardwaj’s whereabouts. A team led by senior police officials reached the house (781, Sector 21) and arrested Bhardwaj, who was later brought to the Sector 30 office of the CBI. Mr S.C. Sharma, who lives in 781, Sector 21, Panchkula, denied that the CBI had raided his residence.

Sources in the CBI said at about 10 a.m., the judicial officer came in a red-coloured Tata Indica car to the CBI office. Talking to mediapersons outside the Sector 30 office of the CBI, Mr S.C. Sharma said Bhardwaj had surrendered before the central agency in his presence. He claimed that the CBI was trying to cover up its failure in nabbing Bhardwaj by showing that had been arrested.

The judicial officer was taken for medical examination at the Sector 16 General Hospital late in the evening. Escorted by CBI officials, he was brought to the hospital in a Tata Sumo. He will be produced before the Duty Magistrate tomorrow.

Talking to mediapersons at the hospital, Bhardwaj claimed that he had been framed by certain vested interests. He said he had surrendered before the CBI. He refused to comment about his hideouts during the past one month.