CBI registers corruption case against Himachal CM Virbhadra Singh

Shimla/New Delhi: CBI on Saturday registered a disproportionate assets case against Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and carried out raids at 11 places in the state, including at his residence in Shimla, and in Delhi. The developments came on a day when Singh's daughter was getting married.

The searches started at around 7.55 in the morning soon after Singh had left his residence in Shimla for the wedding function, sources in Shimla said.

The agency has been carrying out an inquiry against Singh and his family members for allegedly amassing wealth of Rs 6.1 crore disproportionate to the known sources of income while serving as Union Minister of Steel.

Sources said the preliminary enquiry against Singh, and others regarding alleged possession of disproportionate assets has been converted into a Regular Case under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

CBI sources said the preliminary inquiry was against Singh, his wife Pratibha Singh, son Vikramaditya Singh, daughter Aparajita Singh and an LIC agent Anand Chauhan.

The sources said it is alleged that he got an unexplained income of Rs 6.1 crore during the period 2009-11 when he was serving as the Minister of Steel in the UPA Government, the sources said.

They said it is alleged that Singh while serving as the Union Minister invested Rs 6.1 crore in life insurance policies in his and his family members name through LIC agent Chauhan. 

The 18-member raiding team arrived at the Chief Minister's residence in five vehicles, minutes after Singh and his family members left for the marriage of his daughter.

The Chief Minister and his family members, who were not present in the house at the time of the raid, arrived after a simple marriage ceremony at Sankat Mochan Temple here around 11 AM but did not speak to media persons waiting outside the residence.

Senior officers, Ministers and Congress leaders reached his residence soon after the raid.

Reacting to the developments, chief whip of BJP Legislature party, Suresh Bharadwaj and party spokesman Ganesh Dutt demanded immediate resignation of Virbhadra Singh.

"We have been demanding his resignation for a long time after the corruption cases against Singh and his family members surfaced and he should step down immediately," they said.

Apparently the Chief Minister and his ministers had some inkling about registration of FIR against him as all the 11 cabinet ministers had issued a joint statement accusing the BJP-led NDA government of using pressure tactics to destabilise the Congress government in the state.

"We apprehend pressure tactics from the BJP-led Central government to destabilise and arm twist the democratically elected popular Congress government in Himachal Pradesh under the leadership of Virbhadra Singh, who is the tallest Congress leader", the ministers had said in signed statement issued here yesterday.

The ministers -- Vidya Stokes, Kaul Singh Thakur, G S Bali, Sujan Singh Pathania, Thakur Singh Bharmouri, Mukesh Agnihotri, Sudhir Sharma, Prakash Chaudhary, Dhani Ram Shandil, Anil Sharma and Karan Singh -- said they feared "misuse" of Central probe agencies to implicate Virbhadra Singh by making "false and fabricated cases" against him and noted the income tax cases against him were already sub-judice.

Charging that "BJP was making a desperate bid to divert attention of the people by attempting to register false FIRs against established Congress leaders whereas they were maintaining complete silence over questionable conduct of their own leaders", the ministers claimed the BJP was totally cornered on the issue of involvement of its leaders including chief ministers and senior central ministers in various scams.

They said that the income tax matters related to Virbhadra Singh were already pending before Income Tax Appellate Authorities and courts and the CBI after going into a detail inquiry had already submitted its preliminary inquiry report to the Delhi High Court.

It appears that at the instance of political leaders, another preliminary inquiry in the same matter has been ordered with "malafide" intention and the state BJP Leaders were already claiming they had succeeded in getting cases registered from the central agency, they said, adding any such attempt to tarnish the image of the Chief Minister would not be tolerated.