Don't take cognisance of CBI chargesheet:HP CM's wife to court

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh's wife today alleged that the CBI has not followed the due process in its probe into a disproportionate assets case and urged a city court not to take cognisance of the charge sheet filed against them.
Special Judge Virender Kumar Goyal, thereafter, sought the CBI's response on Pratibha Singh's plea by May 1.
The plea stated that the court should first decide whether the material relied upon by the CBI in its final report, which was reportedly collected during its probe in the state without taking the Himachal Pradesh government's approval, can be considered for the purpose of cognisance by the judge or not.

"The consent of the concerned state is mandatory per- requisite for the CBI to derive jurisdiction to carry out investigation in any area within the territory limit of the state," the plea said.
The plea, moved through advocate Vijay Aggarwal, said that no power can be exercised by any member of the CBI in an area falling within the territorial boundaries of a state without the consent of the government of that state.
"It is a pre-condition for the CBI to assume jurisdiction. Since there is no consent granted by the state government of Himachal Pradesh to the CBI to investigate the case in question, the CBI had no jurisdiction to probe the offences against the applicant persons (those arrayed by CBI as accused in the charge sheet) in any area within the state," he said.

He said the issue was liable to be decided by the special court before taking cognisance of the charge sheet.

The court was hearing the matter in which the CBI had filed a charge sheet against the Chief Minister claiming that he had amassed assets worth Rs 10 crore which were disproportionate by 192 per cent to his total income during his tenure as a Union Minister.
The final report, filed against nine people for alleged offences punishable under section 109 (abetment) and 465 (punishment for forgery) of IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act, arrayed around 225 witnesses and 442 documents. The CBI had filed its charge sheet on March 31 this year.

Besides the 82-year-old Congress leader and his wife Pratibha, the CBI has also named LIC agency Anand Chauhan, Universal Apple Associate owner Chunni Lal Chauhan, stamp paper vendor Joginder Singh Ghalta, MD of Tarani Infrastructure V Chandrasekhar among others as accused, charging them with criminal conspiracy, cheating and corruption among others. Chauhan is now in judicial custody.
The apex court had on November 5 last year transferred Singh's plea from Himachal Pradesh High Court to Delhi High Court.
The court today fixed May 17 for hearing arguments on charge in a separate money laundering case filed by Enforcement Directorate (ED) against the LIC agent. The ED case came out of the present CBI complaint.

Both the charge sheets are the outcome of the same offence as alleged by the two agencies. In the charge sheet filed by the ED, the chief minister has not been arrayed as an accused but a witness.
The court had on September 7 last year taken cognisance of the ED charge sheet filed against Chauhan.
The charge sheet was filed for offences under sections 3 (money-laundering) and 4 (punishment for the offence) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Act.
The ED has said Singh "while serving as a Union minister had invested huge amounts in purchasing LIC policies in his own name and those of his family members through Chauhan".

Chauhan was arrested by the ED from Chandigarh on July 9 last year under the provisions of PMLA on the ground that he was allegedly not cooperating with the probe.