The Delhi high court has said that a criminal case for amassing disproportionate assets cannot be closed even if the accused died during the trial and the family members who benefited from the illegal wealth could be put to a legal trial.
The high court said that the family members, who were beneficiaries, could be tried for the offence of abetting the deceased in amassing illegal wealth.
Justice Shiv Narayan Dhingra passed the order after hearing a petition filed by Ram Kumar Singh, son of deceased government officer D. Singh, who was accused of allegedly amassing wealth beyond his known sources of income. The petitioner sought quashing of the criminal proceedings on the ground that he cannot be prosecuted for the alleged offence committed by his father long back.
Rejecting the plea, the court said he can be tried for the offence of abetment as there was evidence that he benefited from the illegal wealth and he also played a role to legalise the ill-gotten money of his father.
“The offences committed by the deceased, accused of amassing illegal wealth through various corrupt means, do not stand wiped out and the wealth still stands there in the hands of the legal representatives of the deceased/accused and the role of the petitioner of acting as a conduit for wealth can be proved by the CBI during the trial,” the court said.
“Charges were framed against two accused persons, against one for substantive offence and against other for abetment. If the main accused has died, that does not mean that substantive offence stands wiped out,” it said.