Trial against Virbhadra in DA case from April 3

New Delhi, February 22

The much-awaited trial against former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh will begin on April 3 as the veteran Congress leader on Friday claimed innocence before a Delhi court and decided to contest the disproportionate assets case of over Rs 10 crore lodged by the CBI.

Special CBI Judge Arun Bhardwaj fixed three dates — April 3, 4 and 5 — when the CBI will start recording statements of the witnesses in the case. “Today, the case is listed for recording the plea of accused no 1, Virbhadra Singh, and accused no 3 ,Anand Chauhan, to the charge framed against them pursuant to order passed on December 10, 2018,” the court said.

Charges have been read over and explained to the accused to which they pleaded not guilty and claimed trial, it said. During the hearing, Virbhadra and his wife, who were present in the court, moved a plea seeking permanent exemption from appearing in the court during the trial of the case.

The court asked the CBI to file its reply on their plea before the next date of hearing.In a separate case filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the agency filed third supplementary chargesheet against Virbhadra in a money laundering case. The court said it would take up the matter on March 18.

The ED’s supplementary chargesheet was filed through advocates Nitesh Rana and NK Matta.

The court had on December 10 last year ordered framing of charges against Virbhadra for alleged criminal misconduct and amassing disproportionate assets of over Rs 10 crore, saying he intended to cause loss to the tax authorities by presenting unaccounted money as sale proceeds of apples.

Apart from the two offences under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act, the court had said that prima facie charges of alleged forgery and attempt to cheat under the IPC were also made out against the 82-year-old Congress leader and former Union minister.

The court had also ordered framing of charges against his wife, Pratibha Singh, and seven others for allegedly abetting in the offences.

After the formal framing of charges, the court commences trial in the case. The other seven accused are LIC agent Anand Chauhan, Chunni Lal Chauhan, Joginder Singh Ghalta, Prem Raj, Vakamulla Chandrasekhar, Lawan Kumar Roach and Ram Prakash Bhatia.

The court in its 105-page order said Virbhadra 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. “They knew that MoU was not made, signed or executed by them on June 15, 2008. They prepared and signed it with the intention of causing it to be believed that it was made by them on June 15, 2008.

“The investigation of CBI has shown that this MoU was ante-dated. Therefore, they can be said to have made a false document,” the court said. It had added 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.

“Resultantly, Virbhadra Singh is liable to be charged under section 13 (2) (misconduct) read with Section 13 (1) (e)(amassing disproportionate assets) of PC Act.

“Since an attempt was also made to cheat the Income Tax authorities using a false document i.e. ante-dated MoU to procure favourable Income Tax assessment order, Virbhadra Singh is also liable to be charged under section 511 (attempt) of IPC read with section 420 (cheating) of IPC,” the court had said.

The punishment for the offences of criminal misconduct and disproportionate assets under the PC Act ranges between one to seven years jail term, forgery under the IPC entails a maximum of two years imprisonment and the offence of cheating could lead to a maximum sentence of seven years. On the role of his wife, the court had said there was “grave  suspicion” that she committed the offence of abetment under the IPC. — PTI

ED files supplementary chargesheet

• During the hearing, Virbhadra Singh and his wife, who were present in the court, moved a plea seeking permanent exemption from appearing in the court during the trial of the case.
• The court asked the CBI to file its reply on their plea before the next date of hearing.
• In a separate case filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the agency filed third supplementary chargesheet against Virbhadra in a money laundering case. The court said it would take up the matter on March 18.