DA case: Virbhadra’s wife withdraws plea from court
NEW DELHI: Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh’s wife today withdrew her application from a special court in which she had urged the court not to take cognisance of a CBI chargesheet filed against the couple into a disproportionate assets case.
After she withdrew the application, Special Judge Virender Kumar Goyal put up the matter for May 3 for decision on taking cognisance of the final report filed against Singh, his wife Pratibha Singh and others alleging that the chief minister had amassed assets worth ₹10 crore which were disproportionate by 192 per cent to his total income during his tenure as a Union Minister.
The court allowed Pratibha Singh’s counsel to withdraw the plea, giving him liberty to move it again at a later stage if he wished to.
In her application moved before the court on April 24, the politician’s wife had urged that the court to first decide whether the material relied upon by the CBI in its final report, which was reportedly collected during its probe in the state without taking the Himachal Pradesh government’s approval, can be considered for the purpose of cognisance by the judge or not.
In her plea, moved through advocate Vijay Aggarwal, she had claimed that the consent of the concerned state government was a mandatory pre-requisite for the CBI to derive jurisdiction to carry out investigation in any area within the territorial limit of the state.
The court was hearing the matter in which the CBI had filed a charge sheet against nine people on March 31 for alleged offences of abetment and forgery, punishable under Indian Penal Code and other offence punishable under Prevention of Corruption Act. The agency has arrayed around 225 witnesses and 442 documents.