District and Sessions judge G K Rai has fixed April 18 as next date for consideration of framing charges against the accused in high-profile City Centre scam today.

The accused in the case, who appeared before the court today, include former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, his son Raninder Singh, a close relative Raminder Singh Richi, former local bodies minister Chaudhary Jagjit Singh, former additional advocate general H S Sandhu, former Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) chief engineer Manmohan Singh, Today Home officials, G K Ghambir, Vinay Subhiki and Sunil Sharma and Delhi-based businessman Chaten Gupta.

Captain Amarinder Singh’s counsel alleged that the Vigilance Bureau had continued investigations in the case without the court’s permission. He cited Section 173 (8) of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which bars fresh investigation without the permission of the trial court. The lawyer also alleged that the Vigilance Bureau had also summoned Bharat Inder Singh Chahal, former media advisor to Captain Amarinder Singh, for questioning.

The defence counsels of the other co-accused also claimed that Vigilance Bureau officials had failed to provide them certain important documents, which had been presented to the court along with chargesheets. They added many of the submitted documents were not readable.

On the other hand, special public prosecutor Miter Sen Goyal stated that the Vigilance Bureau had supplied all documents to the accused and this was only a tactic to delay proceedings in the case.

After hearing the prosecution and defence counsels, judge Rai fixed April 18 as next date of hearing. He also fixed March 21, March 28, April 4 and April 11 for considering various applications filled by the accused.