Shimla, April 30 (IANS) A Himachal Pradesh special court here Saturday asked union minister Virbhadra Singh, who was named in a corruption case, to file his response to the prosecution plea to cancel his bail as he allegedly tried to influence witnesses.
Special Public Prosecutor Jiwan Lal Sharma told IANS that the court of Special Judge B.L. Soni asked Virbhadra Singh, union Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, to file his reply and listed the matter for next hearing May 28.
The state government April 7 demanded cancellation of Singh’s bail.
Sharma said the prosecution had sufficient evidence to prove that Virbhadra Singh tried to influence witnesses and tamper with evidence in the corruption case.
The Congress leader and his wife Pratibha Singh, a former parliament member, were granted bail by the court Dec 16 last year.
Singh, former five-time chief minister of Himachal Pradesh, is accused of misusing his official position in 1989.
The minister and his wife were booked Aug 3, 2009, on the basis of an audio CD released by his political adversary Vijai Singh Mankotia in 2007.
In the CD, Singh was purportedly heard referring to some alleged monetary transactions while talking on phone with Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Mahinder Lal, who has since died.
The CD also contained what were alleged to be the voices of Pratibha Singh and some industrialists.
Two witnesses in the corruption case have moved the Himachal Pradesh High Court, saying that their statements recorded by the prosecution were false and forged.
