New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked CBI to file a report giving details of probe and its status in a preliminary enquiry alleging Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, during his earlier tenure as CM and Union Minister, indulged in graft, money laundering and forgery.
"The CBI is asked to file a fresh status report on or before September 1," a bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw said. Meanwhile, the Income Tax (IT) department filed the probe report and tax assessment details of the Chief Minister in two sealed covers and said the original IT records cannot be left in the court and can be produced on the next date of hearing.
The Chief Minister, against whom the notice has not been issued on the PIL so far, was on Wednesday represented by senior lawyer and former Law Minister Kapil Sibal who alleged that orders had been passed "behind his back" and he be allowed to advance preliminary objections to the petition.
"This is not a public interest litigation. This is a personal interest litigation. All the proceedings are taking place behind my back. The issue of alleged Income Tax violations are pending before the Himachal Pradesh High Court and this court has no jurisdiction over it," Sibal said. Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain and Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the Centre and petitioner NGO 'Common Cause' respectively, objected to Sibal's plea saying that a notice be issued first before the Chief Minister is heard.
"This is an open and shut case. If the documents filed along with the petition are placed in trial, Virbhadra would surely get convicted for disproportionate assets, corruption and money laundering," Bhushan said. "I have learnt from a reliable source that the CBI director is opposed to registration of the FIR. The PE in this case was lodged nearly two years back," he said, adding that a five-judge Supreme Court bench had recently held that the fate of a PE has to be decided within a week.
Earlier, the Centre had said that a prima facie case of money laundering appears to be made out against Singh. The bench had earlier taken note of allegations of receipt of unaccounted money to the tune of nearly Rs 5 crores by the chief minister and filing of revised Income Tax returns for years 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12 by him.
The revised IT returns showed an increase in agricultural income to the tune of Rs 6.10 crore, the PIL has claimed. The bench is hearing the PIL alleging that Singh, during his earlier tenure as the Chief Minister and Union Minister, had indulged in corruption, money laundering and forgery, charges dismissed as false and baseless by Singh.
He also amassed assets disproportionate to the known sources of income, the PIL said and sought a court-monitored "investigation by the CBI and the Income Tax Department" into the charges of money laundering, corruption, disproportionate assets, criminal misconduct against Singh.
The allegations also include cash payment of about Rs 2.28 crore to Singh by an MNC steel firm during 2008 and 2010 when he was the Union Steel Minister. In order to explain the unaccounted for money, Singh filed revised income-tax returns for three assessment years, starting 2009 and "an increase in agricultural income to the tune of Rs 6.10 crore" was shown, it said.
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