New Delhi: Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh on Monday appeared as accused in a special CBI court here in connection with a nearly Rs 10 crore disproportionate assets case and sought bail.
Besides the 82-year-old Congress leader and his wife, the other accused, who have been chargesheeted in the case by the CBI, also appeared before the court and moved their respective bail pleas.
Special Judge Virender Kumar Goyal posted the matter for arguments on May 29 after the CBI said they needed some time to file a reply to the bail pleas.
The chief minister, clad in a grey safari suit, came to the court amid tight security and was accompanied by senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, who was present during the court proceedings.
As the hearing commenced, a battery of senior advocates, including R.S. Cheema, Ramesh Gupta and Rebecca John, who were appearing for these accused, moved the bail applications. The CBI prosecutor told the judge that they needed some time to go through the bail pleas and file a response.
After the hearing, Digvijay Singh, while talking to the reporters outside the court, launched an attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging he was using the CBI, ED and NIA to clamp down on the Opposition.
The agency has chargesheeted Virbhadra Singh, his wife Pratibha Singh, Universal Apple Associate owner Chunni Lal Chauhan, stamp paper vendor Joginder Singh Ghalta, and managing director of Tarani Infrastructure,Vakamulla Chandrasekhar, and co-accused Lawan Kumar Roach, Prem Raj and Ram Prakash Bhatia for the alleged offences, including criminal conspiracy, forgery and corruption.
The chargesheet also names as accused LIC agent Anand Chauhan, who is presently in judicial custody. Chauhan did not move bail plea on Monday.
