The Additional District and Sessions Judge of Dharamsala on Monday granted regular bail to former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Prem Kumar Dhumal and ten others charged with changing the status of Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) from a society to a company.
The court had summoned Mr. Dhumal and his son Hamirpur Loksabha MP Anurag Thakur, who is also HPCA president and BCCI joint secretary, his younger son Arun Dhumal and 16 other HPCA officials on September 6 in the case registered under Sections 420, 406, 218, 120(B) and 201 of the IPC and Section 13(B) of the Prevention of Corruption Act on August 1, 2013.
Special Public Prosecutor Satish Thakur said the court granted bail to 11 of the 16 accused under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) after furnishing bail bond and surety bond of Rs.25,000 each and also granted exemption to Mr. Thakur, who was attending a parliamentary standing committee meeting on information technology in Delhi.
The State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau had filed a charge sheet in the case on April 25, 2014, after brief investigations.
The Vigilance Bureau has accused HPCA of acquiring land fraudulently through deception and illegal means, obtaining documents and key certificates by fraudulent means and with criminal intention, and converting HPCA, which was registered as a society, into a company, with ulterior motives to cause wrongful loss to the State.
The government here had obtained prosecution sanction against the former Chief Minister from the Governor in April this year.
The former Chief Minister, who has been accused of misuse of his office, has maintained that all cases against the HPCA were part of a political vendetta pursued by the incumbent Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, who had failed to appreciate the HPCA’s efforts in putting the Dharamsala stadium on the international cricketing map.
