DA case: CBI chargesheet against Virbhadra not before September 8

R Sedhuraman

Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, August 30

The CBI will have to wait at least till September 8 for filing its chargesheet in a disproportionate assets (DA) case against Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh as the Delhi High Court adjourned the hearing on Tuesday.

Justice Vipin Sanghi posted the hearing for September 8, the suitable date for Singh and the CBI. At Tuesday’s brief hearing, Additional Solicitor General PS Patwalia said the CBI had completed the investigations and was ready with the chargesheet against Singh, but the agency required the high court’s permission for filing it in the trial court.

Singh’s counsel, however, pleaded that the CBI could not seek the HC’s nod like this as the Himachal HC, from where the DA case stood transferred to the Delhi HC by the Supreme Court, had specifically restrained the agency from doing so.

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If the CBI wanted to file the chargesheet, it should formally file an application in the Delhi HC, seeking modification of the Himachal Pradesh HC order, Singh’s counsel pleaded. Justice Sanghi said he would hear arguments on all these aspects on September 8.

According to the CBI, Singh and his family bought insurance policies for about Rs 6 crore using ill-gotten wealth accumulated during 2009-12.

In November 2015, the SC had clarified that it was transferring the case to the Delhi HC due to the peculiar facts and circumstances and to prevent embarrassment to all concerned, be it the Himachal Pradesh HC, the state government or the litigants.

The Himachal HC had passed an interim order on October 1 restraining the CBI from arresting Singh or recording his statement in the case. This prompted the investigation agency to come to the SC, pleading for quashing the HC order and transferring the case to the Delhi HC.