NEW DELHI, Jan 29: India's supreme court ordered a probe on Thursday into stunning claims that a magistrate ordered the arrest of India's president and chief justice after taking bribes from a reporter in a sting operation.

Chief Justice V.N. Khare, heading a three-judge bench, told the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe allegations by Zee TV network that magistrate Brahm Bhatt took 40,000 rupees to issue the warrants in Ahmedabad.

The High Court of Gujarat state moved quickly and suspended Mr Bhatt from service and seized all documents relating to the scandal. "Magistrate Bhatt has been suspended with immediate effect for his misconduct and conduct unbecoming of a judicial officer," the high court said after an emergency meeting of its senior judges.

Reporter Vijay Shekhar of Zee TV, who staged the sting, said he videotaped the magistrate issuing the four arrest warrants after accepting the bribe. In Ahmedabad, lawyers targeted journalists and beat up reporters who reached the tainted magistrate's court, police said, adding that the lawyers also filed counter charges against journalists, but did not elaborate.

Mr Shekhar said a band of Ahmedabad lawyers helped him in securing the bailable warrants against Indian President Abdul Kalam and Justice V.N. Khare. "Maybe if I had haggled the price would have come down," he said, as judges and court prosecutors of various states said they were stunned by the incident, which has cast a murky shadow on the credibility of India's lower, but the most crucial, rung of the judicial system.

"Look at what is happening. You can get an arrest warrant for 40,000 rupees. Time has come to take strict action. Otherwise nothing would remain," Mr Khare angrily said, ordering a series of steps to speed up the CBI probe.

"If this is the state of affairs, only God knows what will happen to the country!" said Khare, credited with using an iron hand to sweep out corruption from some of the highest levels of Indian government. Zee TV said the sting, the third in four months by private television networks against politicians and individuals, was not aimed at tarnishing the judiciary.-AFP