SC grants bail to suspended judge Ajay Sharda

JAIPUR: The Supreme Court granted bail to suspended Ajmer district judge Ajay Kumar Sharda who is accused of corruption in recruitment of clerks and is also accused of abusing his position.
The division bench of Justice Deepak Mishra and Justice P C Pant granted him bail on the ground that he was in jail for about a year. The designated ACB court and high court had rejected his bail petition earlier stating that the charges against him are serious.
Last year, on May 27 Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) arrested former judge Ajay Kumar Sharda from his rented house in Rajsamand district and since then he was in judicial custody.
Anti-Corruption Bureau on April 23, 2013 busted the court clerk recruiting scam with the arrest of clerks Rajesh Sharma and Hitesh Sharma and seized around Rs 10,10,000 from their possession. Another ACB team, at the same time, arrested advocate Hemraj Kanawat of Kekeri, who was returning from Ajmer and seized cash from the house of advocate Bhagwan Singh Chouhan, who fled during the raid and later surrendered.
During investigation the involvement of Ajay Sharda also came to light in the recruitment scam. ACB had also charged former judge Sharda for accepting bribe to grant bail and acquittal in narcotics and other crimes.