SC quashes FIR against Anurag Thakur, Dhumal

SHIMLA: The Supreme Court on Friday quashed an FIR against BJP MP Anurag Thakur, former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and others in a case related to alleged irregularities in granting land on lease for construction of the Dharamshala cricket stadium.

A bench of justices AK Sikri, Ashok Bhushan and Ajay Rastogi said, "We allow the appeal. The FIR registered is quashed."

Two-time former chief minister Dhumal is the father of Anurag Thakur.

Thakur, Dhumal and Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) had challenged the Himachal Pradesh High Court order refusing to quash the FIR registered during the then Virbhadra Singh government in the state.

The high court on April 25, 2014, had refused to quash the FIR and stay the criminal trial pending before special judge, Dharamshala, in a case registered for cheating and criminal conspiracy, and under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Thakur, who is a BJP MP from Hamirpur and was then the HPCA president, had contended in the apex court that the case was actually a civil dispute but the then Virbhadra Singhled Congress government had made it a criminal case for political reasons.

The FIR in the case was registered by the Dharamshala office of the Vigilance Bureau on August 1, 2013, months after the Congress government assumed power in December 2012.

Around 16 acres of land was given to the HPCA by the BJP government led by Prem Kumar Dhumal in 2002 for construction of the state’s first international – ranked cricket stadium at Re 1 per annum lease for 99 years. The magnificent stadium at Dharamshala was a vision of Anurag Thakur ,who headed the HPCA.

Virbhadra Singh on return to power in 2012-13 had ordered a vigilance probe in the grant of the lease to the HPCA by Dhumal ,whose cabinet had approved proposal to government land for the stadium.

Virbhadra government also cancelled the lease in October 2013 and ordered take -over of the stadium—an action which Himachal Pradesh High Court

later had reversed. However, the government went ahead with registering FIR against 18 persons, including former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and son Anurag Thakur,who

later had also become BCCI president.

Anurag Thakur had moved to the High Court seeking quashing of the FIR. Failed to get relief from the High Court, he later approached the Supreme Court against it.