The Delhi High Court on Monday slated January 11 next year to hear former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala's plea for quashing FIR registered against him allegedly for owning assets exceeding his legal income. Justice Ajit Bharihoke decided to hear Chautala's plea while refusing to stop proceedings in a special CBI court,which framed charges against him last month. It is clarified that the pendency of this petition will not come in the way of proceeding of the trial court, he said while slating the plea for hearing from January 11,2012. The court decided to hear Chautala's plea,albeit next year,ignoring CBI counsel Dayan Krishnan's objection against the court entertaining it. Krishnan sought dismissal of Chautala's plea saying the trial court has already framed charges against him last month and he should rather file a fresh plea challenging the court's order on framing of charges than seeking quashing of the FIR. Chautala's counsel senior advocate U U Lalit could not appear in the court,while his proxy counsel sought more time to file the rejoinder in the case. The high court earlier on May 5 had issued notice to the CBI on Chautala's plea seeking quashing of the corruption case lodged against him. 75-year-old Chautala,a five-time state chief minister and sitting MLA from Uchana in Jind district,had sought quashing of the FIR,chargesheet and subsequent order of the lower court taking cognizance of the matter on various grounds including that it was a politically motivated prosecution. The CBI had on March 26 last year filed the chargesheet against Chautala indicting him for allegedly possessing assets worth Rs 6.09 crore,far exceeding known sources of his income between 1993 and 2006. It was roughly 189 per cent of his income of Rs 3.22 crore during the period,the agency had said. Chronicling the events,the former CM,in his petition,alleged that an FIR was firstly lodged by his brother Pratap Singh,a Haryana police officer,in 1997 accusing him of amassing assets worth more than his known sources of income. He pointed out that the police later,however,had filed a closure report in the case saying there was insufficient evidence against Chautala and the special court at Sirsa had also allowed the probe report,the petition said.
