New Delhi, Jan 23 (UNI) Himachal Pradesh's Ex-Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh on Wednesday filed a petition in the Delhi High Court challenging the order of a trial court to frame charges against them for allegedly amassing disproportionate assets (DA) worth over Rs 10 crore.
Virbhadra Singh and his wife have sought, through their petition to quashing the trial court order passed on December 10, 2018 directing framing of charges against nine persons including Singh and his wife in the case lodged by CBI.
The court had in its December order said that Singh intended to cause loss to tax authorities by presenting unaccounted money as sale proceeds of apples and had also ordered framing of charges on January 29 against his wife and seven others for allegedly abetting in the offences.
The other accused persons are LIC Agent Anand Chauhan, Chunni Lal Chauhan, Joginder Singh Ghalta, Prem Raj, Vakamulla Chandrasekhar, Lawan Kumar Roach and Ram Prakash Bhatia.
The court observed that Virbhadra Singh and Anand Chauhan "fraudulently and dishonestly" signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) by ante-dating it to give an impression that it was signed on June 15, 2008 by them. The court further observed that since the document was made for showing unaccounted money as sale proceeds of apples, they were liable to be charged for the offence of forgery.
In this matter Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered a case against Singh and others for allegedly amassing assets worth around Rs 10 crore disproportionate to their known source of income when he was the Union Minister.
CBI has filed a charge sheet by claiming that Singh had amassed assets worth around Rs 10 crore which were disproportionate by 192 per cent of his total income during his tenure as a Union Minister.
The chargesheet has been filed against nine person for alleged offences punishable under section 109 (abetment) and 465 (punishment for forgery) under Indian Penal Code and under the provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act.
Supreme Court of India has transferred the matter from Himachal Pradesh High Court to Delhi High Court which had asked the CBI not to arrest Singh and directed him to join the probe.
UNI XC SNU 1546