Shimla: In response to a petition moved by union minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh, the Himachal High Court has asked the state government and director general police (DGP) state vigilance bureau & anti-corruption bureau to place all records related to a corruption case before it.
The case was registered on the basis of a CD purported to contain the voices of Virbhadra Singh and Pratibha Singh.
Hearing the petition seeking quashing of the FIR in the case or transferring of the investigation to CBI, a division bench of the court consisting of Chief Justice Joseph Kurian and Justice VK Ahuja observed that after seeing the material on record, it would be decided as to whether a notice to other respondents namely chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, DGP DS Manhas, SM Katwal ( a former bureaucrat), Director, Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CSFL), Chandigarh and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) need to be issued notice in the case.
The corruption case has been made out on basis of an audio CD, made public by former congress leader Vijay Singh Mankotia in a press conference at Dharamshala on May 28, 2007.
The CD allegedly contains recording of telephone conversations of Virbhadra Singh and Pratibha Singh with Mohinder Lal (a former IAS officer now deceased) and one KN Sharma (now deceased).
The court posted the matter for 4th November 4 and asked the petitioners to bring it to the notice of the trail court which was to take up the matter on 24th September.
As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads a team of media professionals at Hill Post.
Spanning a career of over two decades in mass communication, as a Documentary Filmmaker, TV journalist, Print Media journalist and with Online & Social Media, he brings with him a vast experience. He lives in Shimla.
