Charges framed against Shimla MP

Tribune News Service

Solan, January 12

Special Judge Bhupesh Sharma today framed charges against Shimla MP Virender Kashyap in a corruption case. He was present in the court during the proceedings.

Kashyap was booked by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau, Shimla, in 2015 under Section 9 of the Prevention of Corruption Act. He was caught on camera while accepting cash in a Solan hotel in a sting operation in 2009. He did not hold any official public position then. The sting operation CD was, however, released in January 2010.

Although a probe was ordered by the then BJP government to ascertain the veracity of the CD, he was given a clean chit.

The investigations were reopened later after an RTI activist filed a petition in the High Court contending that the investigation was not free and fair and the matter had been hushed up.

After coming to power in 2012, the Congress ordered a re-probe by the Special Investigating Unit of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau, which filed an FIR against the MP in 2015.

With the Lok Sabha elections slated to take place in 2019, the framing of charges may go against the two-time Shimla MP.