The special police establishment (SPE) of the Lokayukta organisation has filed a 6,700-page charge-sheet in a court in Bhopal against tainted and suspended IAS couple -- Arvind and Tinoo Joshi -- and 15 others in a case relating to amassing of wealth disproportionate to the known sources of income.
The charge-sheet was filed on Saturday.
The anti-corruption court of BK Dwivedi would now examine the charge-sheet before proceedings for the trial of the accused. The Joshis did not appear before the court as they reportedly refused to accept the notice on the ground that it didn't have the court seal on it.
At least seven other accused -- HM Joshi, Nirmala Joshi, Abha Joshi,Vibha Joshi, Pradeep Kumar Jain, Rajrani and Miral Ali -- also didn't appear before the court.
The court issued notices again to the absentees.
The accused have been charged under sections 13 (1) (e) and 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and 120 (b), 467, 468 and 109 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Huge wealth including Rs 3 crore in cash had been recovered from the residence of the Joshi couple during an income tax department raid in February, 2010.
{{/usCountry}}Huge wealth including Rs 3 crore in cash had been recovered from the residence of the Joshi couple during an income tax department raid in February, 2010.
{{/usCountry}}Both the husband and wife held the rank of principal secretary at that time.
In January this year, the Lokayukta received permission from the department of personnel and training, government of India for prosecution of the couple.