Virbhadra, wife appear in Delhi court in disproportionate assets case

Himachal Pradesh: HP Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife today appeared in a special court here in connection with a nearly Rs 10 crore disproportionate assets case and sought bail.

However, the judge posted the matter for argument to May 29 after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sought time to file a reply to the bail pleas by Singh, his wife Pratibha and the others charge-sheeted in the case.

The CBI charge sheet, running into over 500 pages, has claimed that Singh had amassed assets worth around Rs 10 crore which was disproportionate to his total income during his tenure as a Union minister.

The final report, filed against Singh and eight others for the offences including forgery and corruption, arrayed around 225 witnesses and 442 documents.

The report also named as accused LIC agent Anand Chauhan, who is at present in judicial custody.

Chauhan was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on July 9 last year in a separate money laundering case related to the DA case.

The matter was transferred by the Supreme Court to the Delhi High Court, which on April 6, 2016, had asked the CBI not to arrest Singh and directed him to join the probe.

On November 5 last year, the apex court had transferred Singh’s plea from the Himachal Pradesh High Court to the Delhi High Court, saying it was not expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, but “simply” transferring the petition “in interest of justice and to save the institution (judiciary) from any embarrassment”.