A Delhi court on Wednesday put on trial Congress leader Jagdish Tytler and controversial arms dealer Abhishek Verma after framing charges against them for allegedly writing a forged letter addressed to then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2009.
Special CBI judge Anju Bajaj Chandna put Tytler and Verma on trial after framing charges for the alleged offences punishable under various sections of IPC, including 420 (cheating), 471 (fraudulently or dishonestly using as genuine any forged document or electronic record) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy).
It has been alleged that both the accused had tried to cheat the officials of ZTE Telecom India Private limited. on the basis of forged letter and Verma had demanded bribe of `50 lakh to sort out the visa issue of their employees.
In 2009 during Manmohan Singh’s Government, arms dealer Verma and Tytler forged a letter addressed to the Prime Minister, which was to be issued by Ajay Maken, the then Minister of State for Home Affairs to obtain illegal gratification from the telecom company.
The chargsheet was filed by the CBI on a complaint by Ajay Maken, that a forged letter on his letterhead was addressed to Singh seeking easing of business visa norms in 2009. While Tytler was granted bail by the court after he had appeared before it in pursuance to summons, Verma was sent to judicial custody and is currently in Tihar jail.