Family members of ex-minister Kripashankar Singh discharged in DA case

A special court here today discharged the family members of Congress leader Kripashankar Singh in a disproportionate assets case.

Singh, a former Maharashtra minister who was the main accused in the case, was discharged earlier in February after the probe agencies failed to get sanction to prosecute him.

Singh's family had filed an application that there could not be a case against them since the main accused had already been discharged, their advocate K H Giri said.

"The family members stated that they were not public servants, neither was there any independent charge against them. They were only co-accused and the charges were through Singh. Since Singh has been discharged, there cannot be a case against them," Giri said.

Special Judge D K Gudadhe considered their application and discharged them, the lawyer said.

Those discharged include Singh's wife Maltidevi, his son Narendra, daughter Sunita, and son-in-law Vijay Kumar.

A social activist had filed a complaint against Singh with the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) as well as a PIL in the Bombay High Court in 2014, alleging that Singh had amassed wealth which was disproportionate to his known sources of income.

In April 2015, the Economic Offences Wing of Mumbai Police had filed a chargesheet against Singh and his relatives.

After inquiry, the ACB and EOW had concluded that the assets held by Singh were disproportionate to his income.

The probe authorities had sought government sanction to prosecute him when he was an MLA in 2014 but it was denied two times by the Governor.