CBI opposes bail plea of ‘royal’ couple Virbhadra Singh and wife in DA case

Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday opposed the bail pleas filed by Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh in connection with a nearly Rs 10 crore disproportionate assets case.

In its plea, CBI argued that CM Singh and his wife are the royalties of the state and their medical problems are too common to be grounds for bail. 

On May 22, the 82-year-old Congress leader and his wife had appeared before the court and moved their respective bail pleas. CBI had requested time to file a reply to the bail pleas.

Reacting on CBI’s arguments in the special court in New Delhi, Singh’s lawyer said, “CBI is showing its true colours. The investigation in not impartial and is driven by political motives.”

The Court has reserved the order on bail pleas is likely to give the verdict at 2PM on Monday. 

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Disproportionate Asset case against CM Virbhadra Singh

The CBI chargesheeted Virbhadra Singh, his wife, Universal Apple Associate owner Chunni Lal Chauhan, stamp paper vendor Joginder Singh Ghalta, Managing Director of Tarani Infrastructure Vakamulla Chandrasekhar and co-accused Lawan Kumar Roach, Prem Raj and Ram Prakash Bhatia for the alleged offences including criminal conspiracy, forgery and corruption.

The charge sheet also names as accused LIC agent Anand Chauhan, who was arrested in the case and is presently in judicial custody. Chauhan did not move bail plea.The court had on May 8 summoned them after taking cognisance of the charge sheet filed by the CBI.

The CBI charge sheet, running into over 500 pages having around 225 witnesses and 442 documents, has claimed that Singh had amassed assets worth around Rs 10 crore which were disproportionate to his total income during his tenure as a Union minister.

Chauhan was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on July 9 last year in a separate money laundering case related to the DA case.

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 directed him to join the probe.

On November 5 last year, the apex court had transferred Singh’s plea from the Himachal Pradesh High Court to the 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”.

(With Inputs from PTI)

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