A Delhi court on Thursday granted exemption from personal appearance to Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh till the conclusion of arguments in a disproportionate assets case lodged by the CBI .
Granting the relief, Special Judge Santosh Snehi Mann, however, said the couple would have to appear before the court whenever asked by it.
In their applications, the couple had sought permanent exemption from personal appearance submitting, among other reasons, that their presence was not required. The court later posted the matter on January 18.
The other accused in the case are LIC agent Anand Chauhan, Tarini Infrastructure managing director Vakamulla Chandrashekhar, Universal Apples Associates (Himachal Pradesh) owner Chunni Lal Chauhan, Prem Raj, Lavan Kumar Roach, Ram Prakash Bhatia and Joginder Singh Ghalta.
The CBI has accused Mr. Singh of amassing assets worth ₹10.30 crore between May 2009 and June 2012, when he was the Union Steel Minister.
The agency has alleged that the LIC agent helped Mr. Singh invest unaccounted money in life insurance policies.
In his annual returns, Mr. Singh later showed the additional amount as income from the sale of apples from his orchard.
