Om Prakash Chautala not brought to court in DA case due to ill health

Former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, who is in jail since January 16 for a teachers recruitment scam, could not be brought before a Delhi court today for hearing in a disproportionate assets case against him owing to ill health.

Special Judge Manu Rai Sethi had on February 13 issued production warrant for Chautala for today seeking the presence of 78-year-old Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) chief who is currently lodged in Tihar jail after being sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in another corruption case.

The five-time Haryana Chief Minister, however, could not be brought to the court due to his bad health, police officials informed the court. In his absence, the court could not examine the prosecution witnesseses.

The matter has now been fixed for March 16.

The CBI had on March 26, 2010 charge-sheeted Chautala indicting him for allegedly possessing assets worth Rs6.09 crore, far exceeding his legal income between 1993 and 2006.

Two such separate cases are also on against his sons Ajay and Abhay Chautala.

Chautala and Ajay Chautala were sentenced to 10 years imprisonment by a Delhi court on January 22 for illegally recruiting 3,206 junior basic trained (JBT) teachers in Haryana in 2000.

The CBI had registered three separate disproportionate assets cases against Chautalas on a complaint by Haryana Congress leader Shamsher Singh Surjewala.

Earlier, all the three cases were being heard in different courts and were transferred to one court on CBI's plea that trials in three different courts will lead to inordinate delay in concluding them.

In its charge-sheet, the CBI had alleged that Chautala's wealth was 189% more than his income of Rs3.22 crore during the period.

The CBI had also said that Ajay was possessing assets exceeding his legal income by 339.27%. His legal income between May 1993 and May 2006 was Rs8.17 crore. However, he acquired assets worth Rs27.7 crore, CBI alleged.

Abhay owned assets worth over five times his income of Rs22.89 crore as per income tax records during the 2000-2005 period. The agency claimed to have found Rs119.69 crore worth of assets.