DA case: Court to hear arguments on Virbhadra Singh's plea on November 24

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court today decided to hear in two weeks the arguments on a plea filed by Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh accusing CBI of not furnishing the complete copy of FIR lodged against him and others in a disproportionate assets case.

The agency filed its reply on Singh's plea today after which Special Judge Vinod Kumar posted the matter for hearing.

"Reply to the application filed by CBI. Copy supplied. Put up the matter for arguments on November 24," the court said.

In an application filed before the court, 81-year-old Singh has said that CBI should be directed to file complete copy of the First Information Report in the court.

CBI had registered a Preliminary Enquiry (PE), which was converted into a regular case this September, against Singh and his family members for allegedly amassing wealth of Rs 6.1 crore, alleging it was disproportionate to their known sources of income during 2009-11 when he was serving as Union Minister of Steel in the UPA government.

CBI had lodged the FIR under the provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act, naming Singh, his wife Pratibha Singh, LIC agent Anand Chauhan and Chunni Lal Chauhan.

It has claimed that during this period, Singh, a six-time Chief Minister, had invested Rs 6.1 crore in life insurance policies in his and his family members' names through Chauhan.

In an unprecedented action on a serving Chief Minister, CBI had on September 26 searched his official residence and 10 other places in connection with the case, the day of the marriage of his daughter.

Searches were also carried out at his official residence in Delhi, his two houses in Shimla and Rampur and a farm house in Mehrauli in South Delhi which is in the name of his son Vikramaditya Singh.