Ex-min Thungon acquitted in 21-year-old DA case

NEW DELHI: Former union minister P K Thungon, who was facing prosecution for 21 years in an alleged disproportionate assets case, has been acquitted by a Special Court which said the CBI has failed to prove its case.

Special CBI Judge Pitamber Dutt absolved Thungon, former Minister of State in Ministry of Urban Affairs and Employment, saying the prosecution has not succeeded in proving the offence against him under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Thungon, who in 1975 became the youngest Chief Minister at the age of 29 heading the Arunachal Pradesh government, was charged for allegedly possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income to the tune of Rs 1,08,16,532 between June 1991 and April 1996 when he was the minister in the P V Narsimha Rao-led government at the Centre.

"I am of the considered view that the prosecution has failed to prove on record beyond reasonable doubt that accused P K Thungon was having disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs 1,08,16,532 beyond his known sources of income for which he could not explain satisfactorily," the judge said.

The court, in its 156-page judgement, said Thungon was having excess income of Rs 1.07 lakh after deducting the total assets found in his possession which he acquired during the check period.

During the trial, Thungon denied his involvement in the commission of offence and stated that he has been falsely implicated in this case.

Advocates Harsh Sharma and Vaibhavi Sharma, who appeared for Thungon, contended that the prosecution had miserably failed to prove charges against him and the material produced by CBI itself showed that Thungon's income was much more than what is shown by in the charge sheet.

The counsel said that Thungon had sufficient income from horticulture and agriculture as well as from his dairy business, which has not been taken into consideration.

During the investigation of housing scam case against Thungon, CBI had searched his residential premises at Pandara Road, Yashwant Place, Sarvodaya Enclave in Delhi and his house in Arunachal Pradesh and found incriminating documents, alleging that these showed that he had acquired huge assets during the tenure of his ministership from June 1991 to 1996.