High court adjourns Virbhadra case hearing

SHIMLA - The Himachal Pradesh High Court Friday adjourned the petition of Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh for quashing an FIR registered against him in a CD case till March 8, 2010.

The court asked retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) official S.M. Katwal, who had filed the complaint against the former Himachal Pradesh chief minister to file his response to the petition.

The state government, in its reply, contended that the petitioners “are threatening the investigating agency by issuing legal notices, adding that the petitioner is “a highly placed person and not cooperating with the investigating agency” but did not specifically identify these petitioners.

Meanwhile, the Chandigarh-based Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) also stood by its reported findings of a voice match test on a CD that has recordings of telephone conversations of Virbhadra Singh and his wife and denied allegations that the opinion was tendered to oblige the state vigilance bureau in any manner.

The central laboratory filed a written testimony in response to the petition by Virbhadra Singh and Pratibha Singh.

The due had sought quashing of corruption cases registered against them August 3, 2009, over investigation about the content in the recorded conversation.

Seeking dismissal of the petition, CFSL director S.K. Shukla informed the High Court Friday that the opinion rendered was based upon tests conducted in laboratories after following set procedures. He said “the report was based on auditory analysis of recorded speech and sample of speakers”.

“With respect to identity of speakers and comparison of voices, there was no contradiction in them. The entire record can be produced before the court as and when it was called for,” he said.