On 19 October 2015, Justice A.J. Desai of Gujarat high court granted conditional bail to one of the two judicial officers arrested in September 2015 on corruption charges. Bail was granted to suspended judge P.D. Inamdar, Times of India has reported. The High Court directed his release on furnishing a bail bond of Rs. 25,000 and on condition that he would not enter Valsad district, the posting where he faced corruption charges. He has also been asked to surrender his passport and not to act in a manner that could harm prosecution’s case. Earlier, Inamdar’s counsel Nirupam Nanavati had argued that the investigating agency had not even sought remand to interrogate the judicial officer after the arrest.
It is pertinent to note that Inamdar and another judicial magistrate A.D. Acharya were arrested on September 9 by the vigilance cell of the Gujarat high court after they were suspended from the service. Acharya was serving as a judicial magistrate at Shihor in Bhavnagar district and Inamdar was posted at Jamkhambhaliya court in Jamnagar district. A practising lawyer Jagat Patel had installed a spy camera in judge’s chamber and had recorded them discussing settlement of money to pass orders in favour of certain lawyers. They were suspended and arrested and an inquiry was conducted. An FIR was registered against them later along with 10 other persons, including two court employees (a stenographer B.D. Shrimali and clerk B.G. Prajapati) and eight lawyers.
