SC stays DA case proceedings against Chautala brothers

NEW DELHI: In a breather to former Haryana CM Om Prakash Chautala's sons Ajay and Abhay, both sitting MLAs, the Supreme Court on Friday ordered an interim stay on proceedings in cases filed against them by CBI accusing them of amassing disproportionate assets.
Ajay and Abhay had moved the SC challenging the filing of chargesheet against them by CBI on the ground that the agency had not taken prior sanction from the Haryana Speaker.
A Bench comprising Justices V S Sirpurkar and Cyriac Joseph, while staying further proceedings on the chargesheet, issued notice to CBI and agreed to examine whether the agency was required to obtain the Speaker's sanction owing to their status as members of the Assembly.
In the chargesheet before a trial court on February 2, CBI had accused Abhay of having disproportionate assets worth over Rs 8 crore, which were over five times his income of Rs 22.89 crore as per income tax records during 2000-2005. The agency claimed to have found Rs 119.69 crore worth of assets and alleged that he had diverted money by creating Chaudhary Devi Lal Memorial Trust and other societies.
The CBI accused Ajay of amassing assets to the tune of Rs 27 crore, which was thrice his declared income of Rs 8.17 crore during the period 1993-2006. The CBI case pertained to the five-year tenure of Abhay as MLA from June 2000-March 2005. In January 2010, he was elected for the second term. Ajay, who was previously a Member of Parliament, was elected as MLA this year.