New Delhi: A Special CBI Court in Delhi on Friday sentenced former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala to four years of imprisonment, along with a fine of Rs 50 lakhs in disproportionate assets (DA) case filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The court also passed the confiscation order of his four properties.
Chautala was accused of acquiring disproportionate assets between 1993 and 2006. The CBI had urged the court for maximum punishment, citing that it would send a message to society. “The accused in this case is a public figure and pronouncing minimum punishment would send a wrong message. He does not have clean antecedents. This is the second case in which he has been convicted,” the CBI had said earlier.
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Special Judge (PC Act) Vikas Dhull last week had convicted Chautala and said the accused had failed to satisfactorily account for such dis-proportionality by proving his source of income or means by way of which, he acquired assets during this period. “Hence, the accused, Om Prakash Chautala, was convicted for the offense under Section 13(1)(e) read with 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988."
According to the FIR lodged by the CBI, Chautala during his tenure as the Chief Minister of Haryana from July 24, 1999, to March 5, 2005, accumulated assets, immovable and movable, disproportionate to his known lawful sources of income, in his name, in the names of his family members and others to the extent of Rs 1,467 crores in collusion with his family members.
The FIR further stated that Chautala amassed huge disproportionate wealth and invested the same throughout the country in the shape of thousands of acres of land, multi complexes, palatial residential houses, hotels, farmhouses, business agencies, petrol pumps, and other investments apart from investments in foreign countries.
According to the FIR, the former Haryana Chief Minister accumulated 43 immovable properties. His family members also accumulated additional properties. The FIR stated that the disproportionate assets were calculated to be Rs 6,09,79,026 and the percentage of DA (Disproportionate Assets) was 189.11 percent of his known sources of income.
