Hours after the Delhi High Court dismissed his plea and interim stay on his arrest, CBI on Friday chargesheeted Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and wife in a disproportionate assets case. The chargesheet was filed against nine people including the 82-year-old Chief Minister before special judge Virender Kumar Goyal for offences punishable under Section 109 (abetment) of IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act.
It also named lIC agent Anand Chauhan who is currently in judicial custody.
Chauhan was arrested by Enforcement Directorate (ED) on July 9 last year in a separate money laundering case related to the present case.
Justice Vipin Sanghi also vacated the Himachal Pradesh High Court’s interim order of October 1, 2015 restraining the CBI from arresting, interrogating or filing a chargesheet in the case without the court’s permission.
Virbhadra Singh had sought directions from the Himachal High Court to quash the FIR registered against him and his wife under Sections 13(2) and 13(1)(e) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 109 of IPC by the CBI on September 23, 2015 here and urged the court to summon records of the preliminary inquiry and the FIR.
Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh had claimed in their pleas that there was no order, direction or judgment by any court that had authorised the CBI to inquire, investigate or register regular cases and exercise jurisdiction in the territory of Himachal Pradesh. Singh had on October 1, 2015 got an interim order from the Himachal Pradesh High Court restraining the CBI from arresting, interrogating or filing a chargesheet in the case without the court’s permission.
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 had directed him to join the probe. On November 5, last year, the apex court had transferred Singh’s plea from Himachal Pradesh High Court to 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”.
Meanwhile, the Congress ruled out the removal of Virbhadra Singh with party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi saying there was “nothing to worry about” in the case as it was done out of “political vendetta” and Singh will fight it out and emerge victorious.
“We are confident and have enough concrete evidence to prove that this is a case done out of political rivalry. I feel there is nothing to fear as it is out of political vendetta and Virbhadra Singh has said that he will fight it out and emerge victorious,” said Singhvi.