NEW DELHI: The CBI on Friday filed a chargesheet against Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and others for possession disproportionate assets to the tune of about Rs 10.30 crore.
The agency filed the charge sheet in the Court of Special Judge, CBI Cases, Patiala House Courts here that has listed the matter for consideration of the final report on Saturday.
Besides Singh, his wife Pratibha Singh and seven other including LIC agent Anand Chauhan, private persons Chunni Lal, Joginder Singh, Prem Raj, Lawan Kumar Roch and Ram Prakah Bhatia among others have also been named in the charge sheet.
“It was alleged that during the period from May, 2009 to June, 2012, the then Minister of Steel & Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises(Government of India), New Delhi committed criminal misconduct and was found in possession of disproportionate assets worth Rs.10,30,47,946/-(approx) in his name as well as in the names of his family members, including wife & children. The other accused had allegedly abated the then Union Minister in committing the offence including false documents in the shape of Memorandum of Understanding, sale proceeds & also documents submitted by one of the accused before the Income Tax authorities during 2014 in respect of firms of other accused which were created & used to legitimize the disproportionate assets of said then Minister. The disproportion was to the extent of 192% to his known source of income,” the CBI said in a statement.
The CBI had registered the case on September 23, 2015 against Singh, his wife, two private persons and unknown others on the allegations of possession of Disproportionate Assets. This FIR was the outcome of a Preliminary Enquiry which revealed that then Union Minister while serving during 2009-2012 had allegedly accumulated assets in his name and in the name of his family members which were found to be disproportionate to his known sources of income.
Searches were conducted on September 26, 2015 at 13 different locations in Shimla and Solan (Himachal Pradesh) and New Delhi which led to recovery of incriminating documents, property papers, investments, hard disks and pen drives.
All the nine persons have been charged for offences relating to forgery under the Indian Penal Code and violation of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The agency has listed over 200 witnesses and other evidentiary materials to back the alleged criminality on the part of the accused persons.