Thaindian News

New Delhi, July 4 (IANS) The Supreme Court Monday cleared the way for the prosecution of Haryana’s Indian National Lok Dal legislators Abhay and Ajay Chautala by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a corruption case.

The bench of Justices V.S. Sirpurkar and T.S. Thakur rejected their plea that the probe agency needed permission of the assembly speaker before launching prosecution proceedings against them in the disproportionate assets case.

Abhay and Ajay Chautala, sons of former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, are facing trial before a court in Delhi which has already framed charges against them.

Justice Sirpurkar said that Abhay and Ajay Chautala abused entirely different office or offices than the one which they were holding on the date on which cognizance was taken and, therefore, there was no necessity of sanction from the speaker under Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Earlier, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had rejected their plea.

While upholding the high court verdict in rejecting their plea, the apex court said the appeals are without any merit and are dismissed.

The investigating agency had filed separate charge sheets against Chautala brothers for allegedly accumulating wealth disproportionate to their known sources of income while being members of the assembly.

The CBI carried out probe against Abhay and Ajay Chautala on the direction of the apex court over an alleged teacher recruitment scam.

The case against Chautala brother relates to the period when they were members of Haryana assembly from June 2000 to March 2005.

The probe agency conducted searches and seized documents which revealed that Om Prakash Chautala and his family acquired movable and immovable properties valued at Rs.1,467 crore.