Delhi Court abates proceedings against Vir Bhadra Singh in disproportionate assets case

By Sushil Batra
New Delhi [India], August 3 : A Special Court of Delhi has formally abated all the criminal proceedings against former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Vir Bhadra Singh in disproportionate Assets (DA) case, in view of his recent demise.
"An application has been filed by Counsel for accused Virbhadra Singh stating that he has expired and placing on record the death certificate of him. In view of the same, proceedings qua accused Virbhadra Singh stand abated," stated Special Judge Geetanjali Goel.
The Rouse Avenue Court had abated all the criminal proceedings against him in both Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) cases in disproportionate Assets (DA) case, in view of his demise.
Former Himachal Pradesh chief minister and senior Congress leader Virbhadra Singh died recently on July 8, after a prolonged illness. He was 87 years old.
While in the CBI case, the court had earlier framed charges against Singh, in the money laundering case filed by ED the court was scheduled to frame the charges against the accused.
Earlier the special court in the CBI case had ordered to frame charges under Section 13 (2) read with Section 13 (1) (e) of Prevention of Corruption Act (the public servant who commits criminal misconduct and possesses pecuniary resources or property disproportionate to his known sources of income) against the former minister.
The court had also ordered framing of charges under Section 465 (forgery), Section 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) and Section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The court had ordered to frame charges dealing with abetment and forgery against other accused Life Insurance Corporation agent Anand Chauhan, and former minister's associate Chunni Lal, Joginder Singh Ghalta, Prem Raj, Lawan Kumar Roach, Vakamullah Chandrashekhar and Ram Prakash Bhatia.