In Himachal Pradesh, the special trial court of Shimla today considered framing of charges against Union Minister for Micro, small and Medium enterprises, Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh, in a case of alleged corruption.

After hearing arguements of both parties today, the special judge B. L Soni said, there is sufficient material on record to frame charges against them. According to the Special Prosecutor Jiwan Lal, the matter would be further decided by the Himachal Pradesh High Court as the accused has already obtained stay order on framing of charges.

The case relates to an audio CD which was released by former State Minister Vijay Singh Mankotia at a press conference in Dharamsala on May 28, 2007, alleging that it contained voices of Virbhadra Singh, his wife Pratibha Singh and a retired IAS officer, Mohinder Lal and K.N. Sharma, the then OSD to Virbhadra Singh, regarding some monetary deal.