Provident Fund (PF) scam

Asthana had been booked in connection with the Rs 48-crore provident fund scam. During investigation and in his statement to the trial court, he named several judges at whose behest he reportedly embezzled about Rs 48 crore from the provident fund account of the Ghaziabad court employees. He was in judicial custody since April 2008. 

Having joined as a clerk in Ghaziabad courts on February 9, 1993, Asthana was elevated to the post of central nazir in February 2008. In his statement to the trial court, Asthana named seven judges and said he used to illegally withdraw cash from the PF accounts on their verbal instructions. The judges named were RP Mishra, RS Tripathi, RP Yadav, RS Mishra, Ajay Kumar Singh, RS Chobey and Arun Kumar. 

Commenting on RP Mishra, the then district judge, Asthana revealed that he used to provide between Rs 25,000 and Rs 30,000 per month for Mishra’s household expenditure. He also incurred regular expenditure on Mishra’s son, who was studying in IMT. Regarding RS Tripathi, the then district judge here, Asthana revealed that he used to incur regular expenditure on his monthly expenditure to the tune of Rs 50,000 per month. To RP Yadav, he used to provide from Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 per month. Yadav had elevated him to the post of the central nazir. 

In his statement, Asthana also named the high-profile Justices BM Sahay, Anjni Kumar, Sushil Harkoli, Tarun Agrawal, JC Rawat, ON Khandelwal, Swatantra Singh and Tarun Chatterji.

Ashutosh Asthana’s family alleges he was murdered in police custody
Ashutosh Asthana, a district court middle-rung officer who had earned notoriety on account of embezzlement of provident fund of Ghaziabad district courts staff, died here on Saturday. His family members are alleging foul play in the incident.
Asthana’s wife Sushma said she feared for her life now and that her husband had told her last week that he would be killed in jail. "He was under intense pressure from police," Sushma alleged in a chat with PTI. About two months ago, Asthana had requested the court to tighten his security inside the jail and claimed that he was facing threat to his life......

Asthana had been booked in connection with the Rs 48-crore provident fund scam. During investigation and in his statement to the trial court, he named several judges at whose behest he reportedly embezzled about Rs 48 crore from the provident fund account of the Ghaziabad court employees. He was in judicial custody since April 2008. 

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