High Court Takes OP Chautala In Custody in disproportionate asset

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NEW DELHI: Former Haryana Chief Minister OP Chautala, serving 10-year jail term in a teachers’ scam, has been taken into custody in a disproportionate assets (DA) case after a man sought to withdraw his surety bond furnished for the politician’s bail.

Special CBI Judge Sanjay Garg-I allowed the application of Surjit Singh, who had stood surety for 81-year-old Chautala at the time of his bail, saying that he does not wish to continue as his surety due to personal reasons.

The court ordered that Mr Chautala, who was present in the court during the hearing, be taken into custody in this case.

“An application is moved by surety (Singh) seeking withdrawal of surety. As per the surety, due to personal reasons he does not want to continue as surety of accused (Chautala). Application is allowed and accused is taken into custody. The surety bond stands discharged. The FDR of surety lying on the record is returned back to him,” the court said.

The court is currently recording statements of CBI witnesses in the case.

Mr Chautala is in prison after being sentenced to a 10-year jail term in the JBT scam case. He is serving imprisonment for illegally recruiting 3,206 JBT teachers in Haryana in 2000.

CBI had registered three separate disproportionate assets cases against Mr Chautala and his two sons Ajay and Abhay, on a complaint by Haryana Congress leader Shamsher Singh Surjewala.

The agency had on March 26, 2010 chargesheeted Mr Chautala indicting him for allegedly possessing assets worth Rs. 6.09 crore, far exceeding his legal income between 1993 and 2006. Two such cases are going on against his sons, Ajay and Abhay.

Earlier, all the three cases, being heard in different courts, were transferred to one court on CBI’s plea that these cases be put up before a single judge as trials in different courts would lead to inordinate delay in concluding them.

In its charge sheet, the CBI had alleged that Mr Chautala’s wealth was 189 per cent more than his income of Rs. 3.22 crore during the period.

The CBI had also said that Ajay was possessing assets exceeding his legal income by 339.27 per cent. His legal income between May 1993 and May 2006 was Rs. 8.17 crore, but had acquired assets worth Rs. 27.7 crore, it had alleged.

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.

All these charges have been denied by Mr Chautala and his sons.