In a setback to Union minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha, the Himachal Pradesh high court on Saturday declined to stay the couple’s trial in a case of alleged corruption and asked them to appear before the special court.
The high court also gave no relief to Mr Singh and his wife on their plea to quash the case and refer it to CBI.
The case relates to an audio CD which was released by former minister Vijay Singh Mankotia at a press conference at Dharamsala on May 28, 2007, alleging that it contained the voices of Virbhadra Singh, Pratibha Singh, Mohinder Lal, a retired IAS Officer and K.N. Sharma, the then OSD to Singh, regarding some monetary deal.
The case was heard by the HC on January 5 and the order reserved.
The trial court had on October 23, 2010, passed an order holding that investigating agency has collected possible material and that there was no ground for ordering any further investigation. The chargesheet in the case has been filed in the trial court.
A division bench of the high court comprising Chief Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice V.K. Ahuja said “the order of the trial court of October 23, 2010, summoning the accused to appear before the court was final and the petitioners have to face the next stage of consideration of charge”.