Virbhadra CD case: Witness denies giving statement

“Jain has sought intervention of the High Court for deletion of his name from the challan filed in the year 2010 in the CD case,as he had not given any statement to Inspector Daya Sagar on March 3,2010,contrary to what has been claimed in the Vigilance challan. The petitioner has also asked for an inquiry into how Vigilance linked him with the case. The Division Bench of Justice RB Mishra and Justice Surender Singh Thakur has asked the state government to file a short reply in the case and issued notice to Inspector Daya Sagar. The next hearing is on March 4,” said Nareshwar Chandel,one of the counsels of petitioner Prem Chand Jain.

Jain has argued in the petition that although Daya Sagar had approached him in Delhi and pressed him to give a statement,he had refused.

As per the statement included in the challan,Jain was said to have been advised by former Industries Director Mohinder Lal in 1989 to approach former CM Virbhadra Singh to get Industrial Project Approval Review Authority (IPARA) approval for setting up the Ambuja Cement plant at Darlaghat. The statement further says that Jain and President of Ambuja,Suresh Neotia,had allegedly given Rs 2 lakh to Virbhadra Singh in New Delhi and Jain had given Rs 3 lakh to Pratibha Singh at Shimla.

Jain has contested these statements as false,defaming,self-incriminating and harming his reputation. The statement has been recorded by Vigilance under section 161 of Criminal Procedure Code. As per this section of CrPC,a statement of the witness is not necessarily taken under his signatures.

When contacted,Shravan Dogra,counsel of Virbhadra Singh,said,“The entire FIR and challan in the CD case against the Union minister has been based by Vigilance on the statements of PC Jain and another witness Kapil Mohan. With Jain denying having given any statement,the entire case could turn out to be false and we would take an appropriate legal step”.