South Carolina shifts Virbhadra assets case

The Supreme Court on Thursday transferred Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh’s disproportionate assets case from state High court to Delhi High Court.

A bench of Justice F.M.I.

Today, while transferring the case to Delhi on the CBI’s plea, the apex court bench of Justices Ibrahim Kalifulla and U.U. Lalit asked Singh and the agency to withdraw certain allegations made against each other. With this latest development, Singh will not be arrested until the petition is disposed of.

Senior Supreme Court lawyer Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister, opposed the transfer petition.

The chief minister said that the annexures, as mentioned in para five of the FIR, were not sent to the court along with the FIR’s copy.

Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for CBI, had questioned the order granting relief to the CM asserting that one of the judges of the high court bench had recused from hearing a case involving the leader on the ground that he (leader) was once his client.

The Delhi High Court is also hearing a PIL filed by NGO, Common Cause through advocate Prashant Bhushan, alleging that Singh had received unaccounted money to the tune of almost Rs 5 crore.

“Hence, it is prayed that directions may be issued to CBI to file complete copy of the FIR to the applicant”. Apart from Singh, an investigation was also initiated against his wife, Pratibha Singh, son, Vikramaditya Singh, daughter, Aparajita Singh and an LIC agent, Anand Chauhan.

The case was the outcome of a preliminary inquiry which said that Virbhadra Singh, while serving as a union minister during 2009-2012, allegedly accumulated assets worth Rs.6.03 crore in his name and in the name of his family members, which were found to be disproportionate to his known sources of income.