Virbhadra, wife appear in trial court

Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, May 22

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh today appeared in a CBI court here as directed by the court in a disproportionate assets case and sought anticipatory bail.

Special Judge Virender Kumar Goyal posted their plea for hearing on May 29 as the CBI sought time to respond to the plea of the accused.

On May 8, the trial court had directed them and other accused in the case to appear before it today. The judge had issued the summons after taking cognizance of the agency’s chargesheet against all the eight accused.

The CBI has charged Singh with amassing unaccounted wealth to the extent of about Rs 10 crore when he was a Central minister during the check period from May 28, 2009 to June 26, 2012. He had invested the money in LIC policies in his name, that of his wife and other family members.

Singh has disputed the charge contending that he purchased the policies out of the income from his apple orchard, Srikhand Orchard, in Damrali village in Shimla district. He entered into a memorandum of understanding with LIC agent Anand Chauhan on June 15, 2008 for management of his orchard.

The other six accused in the case are Chunni Lal Chauhan, Joginder Singh Ghalta, Prem Raj, Vakamulla Chandrasekhar, Lawan Kumar Roach and Ram Prakash Bhatia.

Earlier, the Delhi High Court had allowed the CBI to file the chargesheet by rejecting the objections raised by Singh and the Himachal government.

The CBI has registered a fresh case against Singh after closing the first preliminary enquiry for lack of evidence. The agency had contended that it was duty bound to conduct further investigation in the light of fresh evidence in the form of LIC policies purchased in the name of Singh and his family members.

The charges 

The CBI has charged Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh with amassing unaccounted wealth to the extent of about Rs 10 crore when he was a Central minister during the check period from May 28, 2009, to June 26, 2012. He had invested the money in LIC policies in his name, that of his wife and other family members.