By IANS,
Shimla : The Himachal Pradesh government Thursday in an application to a court here demanded cancellation of bail granted to union minister Virbhadra Singh in a corruption case because, it alleged, he tried to influence witnesses.
The government plea comes a few days after Virbhadra Singh, Congress leader and union Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, launched a campaign against alleged corruption in the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled state.
Special Public Prosecutor Jiwan Lal Sharma told IANS that the application was moved in the court of Special Judge B.L. Soni. The plea would be heard April 30.
Sharma said the prosecution had sufficient evidence to prove that Virbhadra Singh tried to influence witnesses in the corruption case.
Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh, a former MP, were granted bail by the court Dec 16 last year.
The union minister, who has been the state’s chief minister five times earlier, is accused of misusing his official position as chief minister in 1989.
He and his wife were booked Aug 3, 2009, on the basis of an audio CD released by his political adversary Vijai Singh Mankotia in 2007.
In the CD, he was purportedly heard referring to some monetary transactions while talking on phone with Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Mahinder Lal, who has died. It also contained the voices of Pratibha Singh and some industrialists.
One of the witnesses in the corruption case moved the Himachal Pradesh High Court April 4, saying that his statement recorded by the prosecution was false and forged.
The union minister, who was touring Shimla April 2, alleged that top political functionaries in the state government were involved in illegal property transactions and promoting realtors.
Without naming anybody, he said Bantony Estate, a prime British-era property near Scandal Point in Shimla, has been purchased by a private party.
He slammed the state government for allowing a private builder associated with a Delhi-based company to build an ultra-luxurious housing project in Shimla.