Chandigarh, April 21 -- The court of Panchkula additional session judge, Rajeev Goyal on Monday discharged under suspension former central bureau of investigation (CBI) judge, Sudhir Parmar and four others in a corruption case. The three others discharged in the case are representatives of real estate development companies - Roop Bansal of the M3M, Lalit Goyal of the IREO and Anil Bhalla of the Vatika Group. Ajay Parmar, a nephew of the suspended judicial officer was also discharged. Sudhir Parmar, against whom a Prevention of Corruption Act FIR was registered by Haryana anti-corruption bureau (ACB) in April 2023 is a member of Haryana Superior Judicial Services in the rank of an additional district and sessions judge. Counsels for Sudhir Parmar and Roop Bansal, SPS Parmar and Yavneet Dhakla respectively confirmed that the accused in the case were discharged by the trial court on Monday. A detailed court order in this regard is expected by Tuesday, Dhakla told HT. Legal experts said that discharge in sessions cases under Section 227 CrPC (now section 250 of BNSS) implied that the judge decided that there was not enough evidence to proceed with the case. Hence, the accused is released from the charges at that stage without a full trial. The provision ensures that an accused person is not subjected to the ordeal of a full-fledged criminal trial in the absence of sufficient evidence. The Haryana government had in September 2025 accorded sanction to prosecute the under-suspension judicial officer for alleged corruption and criminal misconduct. Subsequently, the ACB had in October 2025 filed a chargesheet against former CBI judge Sudhir Parmar, Roop Bansal of the M3M, Lalit Goyal of the IREO, Anil Bhalla of the Vatika Group and Ajay Parmar, a nephew of the suspended judicial officer in the trial court. An FIR was registered in April 2023 against the judicial officer, his nephew, Ajay Parmar and director of real estate company M3M India Pvt Ltd Roop Bansal by the ACB under sections 7, 8, 11 and 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and 120-B of the IPC for offences relating to a public servant being bribed, public servant obtaining undue advantage from a person concerned in proceeding or business transacted by such public servant and criminal misconduct by a public servant; and criminal conspiracy. Parmar was holding the charge of special CBI and Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) courts in Panchkula when he was booked by the ACB on April 17, 2023. The judicial officer was subsequently placed under suspension by the Punjab and Haryana high court.The ACB after investigating the matter for about 18 months had in January 2025 sought sanction of the state government to prosecute Parmar. The chargesheet was then sent to the high court by the investigating agency for its recommendation on the matter. The FIR was registered by ACB on the basis of "reliable source information", WhatsApp chats and recordings of the accused. The judicial officer has been accused of alleged favouritism to real estate developers Roop Bansal and his brother Basant Bansal of M3M and Lalit Goyal of IREO Group, as per the FIR registered by the ACB. The Bansals and Goyal were named as accused by the CBI and the ED in cases pending before the special CBI court - a court that was presided over by Parmar. Parmar was presiding over the trial of several CBI and ED cases involving real estate developers, retired bureaucrats and politicians. He was questioned by an ACB team on April 18, 2023, during a morning raid at his official residence in Panchkula. He was placed under suspension by the HC chief justice on April 27, 2023, after an interlocutory application in the Supreme Court was filed by the HC seeking the permission of the apex court to transfer Parmar "in view of gravity and seriousness of the matter". The ACB FIR, based on which the Enforcement Directorate also registered an enforcement case information report (ECIR) to probe money laundering had arrested Parmar in August 2023, but he was granted bail in November 2023. According to the ACB FIR "reliable source-based information" disclosed instances of grave misconduct, abuse of official position and demand/acceptance of undue advantage/bribe from the accused in cases pending in Parmar's court. The ED had registered a case under the PMLA and arrested Lalit Goyal, the vice-chairman and managing director of realty giant IREO Group in November 2021 for allegedly cheating home buyers and others. In February 2022, ED had presented a prosecution complaint (challan) against Goyal in the special PMLA court in Panchkula. "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 Sudhir Parmar by the accused in the IREO case," the FIR said. The WhatsApp chats were allegedly made from Parmar's own mobile device as well as that of his nephew, Ajay Parmar, employed by M3M as a legal adviser, the FIR said....