Facing allegations of having assets disproportionate to his known sources of income, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh, on Monday, applied for bail before a Delhi court.
Taking up their plea, the special CBI court put the investigating agency on notice. Virbhadra Singh had appeared in court as he and other accused in the case were directed by the CBI Special Judge Virender Kumar Goyal for personal appearance after taking cognisance of the chargesheet prepared by the investigating agency.
Virbhadra Singh, his Pratibha Singh with Anand Chauhan, his associate Chunni lal, Joginder Singh Ghalta, Prem Raj, lawan Kumar Roach, Vakamullah Chandra Shekhar and Ram Prakash Bhatia, were also present in court. The CBI, in its chargesheet said Virbhadra Singh was in possession of assets worth Rs 10,30,47,946,40 in his own name as well as in the names of his family members.
During the hearing, a copy of the chargesheet was handed over to the accused before they applied for the bail. As per the available information, all the accused have moved separate bail petitions in the court.
Issuing notice to the investigating agency for May 29, the court has asked the investigating agency, why the bail should not be granted to the accused.
CBI had filed chargesheet against the Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on March 31 this year charging that he had amassed assets worth Rs 10 crore which were disproportionate by 192 per cent to his total income during his tenure as a Union Minister.
Chief Minister and other were charged by CBI under Section 109 (abatement) and 465 (punishment for forgery) of IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act, arrayed around 225 witnesses and 442 documents.
Earlier, Delhi High Court had dismissed Virbhadra Singh’s petition seeking quashing of the FIR in the case.