New Delhi: A Delhi court on Monday ordered
trial of Haryana MLA Abhay Chautala, son of former chief
minister Om Prakash Chautala, on charges of possessing wealth
exceeding his legal income.
Special CBI Judge PS Teji formally ordered trial of
the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader, framing charges
against him under various sections of the Prevention of
Corruption Act.
The court fixed the next hearing on August 30 when it
is likely to start recording the statements of prosecution
witness.
The CBI had registered a case against Om Prakash
Chautala and his two sons, Abhay and Ajay in April 2006. The
CBI had searched their 24 premises in Delhi, Haryana,
Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal and Chandigarh during
which it had seized Rs 13 lakh in cash and had frozen five
bank accounts having Rs 1.34 crore.
The probe agency had filed charge sheets against Ajay
and Abhay, both Haryana MLAs, for possessing assets
disproportionate to their known sources of income.
The CBI had alleged that Abhay owned assets worth over
five times his income of Rs 22.89 crore as per income tax
records during the 2000-2005 period. The agency claimed to
have found Rs 119.69 crore worth of assets.
The investigating agency's FIR listed the movable and
immovable properties belonging to Chautala or his family
members which had been acquired between July 1999 and March
2005 when they were public servants.
The Supreme Court had earlier this month cleared the
decks for trial of the Chautala siblings rejecting their plea
of quashing the criminal case against them on the ground that
no sanction was taken from authorities before initiating
proceedings against them.
PTI
First Published: Monday, July 18, 2011, 20:43