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Virbhadra acquitted in CD case on eve of swearing-in
Vijay Arora
Legal Correspondent

cd tale May 28, 2007, Dharamsala: Vijay Singh Mankotia releases an audio CD containing conversations allegedly in the voice of Virbhadra Singh and Pratibha Singh regarding money transactions The conversations purported to have taken place in 1989 and 1990 Aug 3, 2009: FIR registered at vigilance police station, Shimla June 25, 2012: Special court frames charges June 26: Virbhadra resigns as Union minister Dec 24: Special court acquits Virbhadra and Pratibha Singh

Shimla, December 24
Himachal Chief Minister-designate Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh were today acquitted in the audio CD case, with the Special Court stating there was no evidence relating to commission of any misconduct on their part for granting clearance to industrial proposals of Mohan Meakin and Ambuja Cement.

Announcing the verdict on the eve of Virbhadra’s swearing-in for the office for a record sixth time, special judge BL Soni observed that the prosecution had failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt. There is no evidence of Pratibha Singh exercising personal influence on Virbhadra Singh for getting cleared matters relating to Mohan Meakin and Ambuja Cement, said the judge.

The court observed that there was also no evidence relating to commission of any misconduct on part of Virbhadra and found no evidence of Virbhadra demanding illegal gratification for the proposals. Consequently, no case was made out against the duo under Section 120(B) of the IPC and sections 7, 9 and 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Sharwan Dogra, counsel for Virbhadra Singh, contended before the court that there was no reliable evidence to show that the alleged audio cassette was recorded and contained the real conversation. The prosecution lawyer submitted that a fact could be proved by oral evidence, but the court rejected his plea. It observed that oral evidence did not prove that any illegal gratification was ever demanded and such amount was ever received in the way the prosecution had alleged.

The court had rejected the audio CD as evidence since its origin was not known and the alleged conversation pertained to 1989 when CDs were not prevalent. Further, the two main witnesses -- Brig Kapil Mohan, managing director of Mohan Meakin, and PC Jain, vice-president of Ambuja Cement, had in their evidence in the court stated they did not make the statements attributed to them before any investigation officer.