Chargesheet in DA case against Virbhadra Singh ready: CBI to HC

However, Justice A K Pathak said he will not hear the matter and transferred it to another bench. He did not give any reason for doing so. The court said the matter would be listed before the other bench on August 30.

The lawyer for Singh sought two weeks time before the matter was heard, but CBI lawyer Sanjeev Bhandari wanted an earlier date as the agency was ready with its charge sheet.

The Himachal Pradesh High Court in an interim order of October 1, 2015, had restrained the agency from arresting, interrogating or filing a charge sheet against Singh in the case without the court’s permission.

The matter was later transferred by Supreme Court to the Delhi High Court, but the interim order has not yet been vacated or stayed. The Delhi High Court on April 6 this year had directed CBI not to arrest Singh while asking him to join the probe.

The direction had come when the court was disposing of CBI’s application seeking vacation of the Himachal Pradesh High Court’s order which, the agency claimed, had “seriously held up” its investigation in the case.

On November 5 last year, the apex court had transferred Singh’s plea from Himachal Pradesh HC to Delhi HC, saying it was not expressing any opinion on the merits of the case but “simply” transferring the petition “in interest of justice and to save the institution(judiciary) from any embarrassment”.