DA case against OP Chautala: Court pulls up CBI

NEW DELHI: A special court today pulled up the CBI for not serving summons to witnesses properly, saying this had delayed trial in a disproportionate assets (DA) case involving former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala.

Irked over non-service of summons to four prosecution witnesses, the court observed that reports regarding unexecuted summons given by CBI were "unsatisfactory" and this has led to wastage of judicial time.

"Out of six summons issued, four were received unexecuted with unsatisfactory reports. It leads to wastage of court time and delay in trial. Public prosecutor assures that this will not happen in future and he will take up the matter with senior officials," Special CBI Judge Sanjay Garg-I said.

Summons were served to only two prosecution witnesses who appeared in court and recorded their statements.

The court, in its order, noted that it was not satisfied with the report given by the process server of CBI, saying no effort was made to get the present addresses of the witnesses.

The court is currently recording statements of CBI witnesses in the case. 80-year-old Chautala, who is lodged in jail after being sentenced to a 10-year jail term in another case, was also present in the court during the hearing.

Chautala is serving 10-year imprisonment for illegally recruiting 3,206 JBT teachers in Haryana in 2000.

CBI had registered three separate disproportionate assets cases against Chautala and his two sons Ajay and Abhay, on a complaint by Haryana Congress leader Shamsher Singh Surjewala.

The agency had on March 26, 2010 chargesheeted Chautala indicting him for allegedly possessing assets worth Rs 6.09 crore, far exceeding his legal income between 1993 and 2006.

Two such separate cases are also going on against his sons, Ajay and Abhay.