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High court refuses to stay graft case against Chautala
New Delhi, The Delhi High Court Monday refused to stay proceedings of a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court, which has framed charges against former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala in a graft case.
The court refused to stop proceedings in the lower court while hearing Chautala’s petition for quashing a police complaint against him allegedly for owning assets worth Rs.6 crore exceeding his legal income.
Justice Ajit Bharihoke, meanwhile, deferred hearing on the plea till Jan 11, 2012.
“It is clarified that the pendency of this petition will not come in the way of trial court to proceed with the trial,” said the court while slating Chautala’s plea for hearing from Jan 11, 2012.
CBI counsel Dayan Krishnan sought dismissal of Chautala’s plea, saying that the trial court has already framed charges against him last month and he should rather file a fresh plea challenging the court’s order on framing of charges than seeking quashing of the FIR.
Chautala’s plea sought quashing of the FIR lodged on April 3, 2006, and order of cognizance taken on charge sheet against him on April 20, 2010, and all subsequent proceedings pending before the special CBI court judge.
The charge sheet against Chautala, currently a sitting member of the Haryana legislative assembly, was filed in Karkardooma court on March 26, 2010.
Chautala, 75, is a five-time chief minister of Haryana and last held the post between July 1999 to March 2005. The Indian National Lok Dal leader currently represents Uchana Kalan constituency of Hissar district in the Haryana assembly.
“The accused was found in possession of assets to the tune of Rs.6.09 crore disproportionate to his known sources of income. It is roughly 189 percent of his income of Rs.3.22 crore between 1993 and 2006 period,” the charge sheet said.
The CBI claimed that Chautala was found in possession of immovable and movable assets worth Rs.7.43 crore, in addition to the expenditure incurred by him of Rs.1.91 crore during the period.
The agency registered a case in a designated court here in April 2006 and searched 24 premises of the Chautala family in Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Chandigarh, during which it seized Rs.13 lakh and froze five bank accounts containing Rs.1.34 crore belonging to Chautala and his family members.
“The figures are conservative estimates as these are based on registered values or valuation reports to calculate the acquisition cost,” said the CBI.
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