Court to pass order against O P Chautala today in disproportionate assets case

The Rouse Avenue Court of Delhi will pronounce its order on the sentence against former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala in a disproportionate assets DA case filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation CBI todaySpecial Judge Vikas Dhull on Thursday after concluding the arguments of both sides said the order on sentences will be passed on FridayDuring the argument Chautala physically appeared and remained present in the courtroomAppearing for Chautala Advocate Harsh Sharma cited medical grounds for less punishment and submitted that Chautala has been infected with polio since birth and is partially disabledChautala is accused of acquiring disproportionate assets during 19932006CBIs Special Public Prosecutor Ajay Gupta opposed the submissions of Chautalas lawyer for a grant of concession on the ground of illhealth and ageCBI urged the court for maximum punishment shall be given as it would send a message to the societyThe person in this case is a public figure and giving minimum punishment would send a wrong message He is not having clean antecedents It is the second case in which he has been convicted CBI saidSpecial Judge PC Act Vikas Dhull last week had convicted Chautala and said the accused had failed to satisfactorily account for such disproportionality by proving his source of income or means by way of which he acquired assets during this periodHence accused Om Prakash Chautala is convicted for the offence under Section 131e read with 132 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 the court had saidAccording to the CBIs FIR accused Om Prakash Chautala while functioning as Chief Minister of Haryana during the period from July 24 1999 to March 5 2005 in collusion with his family members and others accumulated assets immovable and movable disproportionate to his known lawful sources of income in his name in the names of his family members and others to the extent of Rs 1467 croresFIR further stated that the accused accumulated enormous wealth and invested the same throughout the country in the shape of thousands of acres of land multi complexes palatial residential houses hotels farmhouses business agencies petrol pumps and other investments apart from investments in foreign countriesFIR also stated that 43 immovable properties in all apart from cash and jewellery were accumulated Apart from 43 alleged properties listed in the FIR additional properties were also suspected to be of the accused familyAn investigation with regard to additional properties was also conducted for ascertaining the link of the accused family with the said propertiesThe chargesheet filed in the matter after the conclusion of the investigation stated that accused OP Chautala had acquired assets both immovable and movable which were disproportionate to his known source of incomeThe disproportionate assets were calculated to be Rs 60979026 and the percentage of DA Disproportionate Assets was 18911 per cent of his known sources of incomeAccordingly CBI had chargesheeted the accused for the offence under the relevant section of the Prevention of Corruption ActApart from the chargesheet filed against the accused OP Chautala the CBI had filed two more charge sheets arising out of the present FIR against the sons of the accused including Abhay Singh Chautala and Ajay Singh Chautala and others which are being tried separatelyOm Prakash Chautala is a former Chief Minister of Haryana from the Indian National Lok Dal and son of sixth Deputy Prime Minister Chaudhary Devi LalChautala was released from the Tihar Jail on July 2 2021 from a 10 years prison sentence after completing the due formalitiesHe and 53 others in June 2008 were charged in connection with the appointment of 3206 junior basic teachers in the state of Haryana during 19992000In January 2013 a Delhi court sentenced Chautala and his son Ajay Singh Chautala to 10 years imprisonment under various provisions of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption ActThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever