Chautala hospitalised; court seeks health report

Chautala has been lodged in Tihar Jail after being sentenced to 10-year imprisonment in the 2000 JBT scam

Jailed former Haryana Chief Minister O P Chautala was admitted to RML hospital here this morning and failed to appear for trial in a disproportionate assets case before a Delhi court which pulled up Tihar Prisons Authority for not intimating it about the development.

The court also issued a notice to the jail superintendent seeking a report on the health status of 78-year-old Chautala. Chautala has been lodged in Tihar Jail after being sentenced to ten year imprisonment in the 2000 JBT scam and was to be produced before Special CBI Judge Manu Rai Sethi, who is conducting trial in a disproportionate case against the INLD chief and his sons Ajay and Abhay Chautala.

Even as the case came up for hearing in the afternoon, the jail authorities had not informed the court about his hospitalisation for a "digestive disorder" and consequent inability to appear before it.

"As per his counsel, accused (Chautala) was admitted in hospital in morning itself. Superintendent of Tihar Jail no. 2 (where Chautala is lodged) ought to have sent a written communication in this regard to the court in time. "He already knew that matter was to be taken up after lunch. This lax attitude of the superintendent is viewed with concern by this court. Let notice be issued to him with direction to inform the court of latest health status of the accused," the court said.

It was Chautala's counsel who informed the court about his hospitalisation and later a police personnel from the lock-up told the court that a wireless message was received in this regard.

A fresh production warrant has been issued for Chautala for April 12. On March 25, the court had rejected Chautala's plea to get a pacemaker implanted at a private hospital at his own expense and instead referred him to RML Hospital here saying it has all the infrastructure and facilities required for his treatment.