The hearing of the bail petition of Virbhadra Singh’s close aide Anand Chauhan, arrested in the money-laundering case against the Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister and his family, was on Tuesday put off to August 2.
Mr. Chauhan was arrested on July 9 in Chandigarh by the Enforcement Directorate after he did not cooperate with the agency, refusing to take its summons.
Judicial custodyHe was produced in court after four days of investigation and remanded in judicial custody till July 19. His plea was not heard that day for technical reasons.
He has allegedly invested crores of rupees of the Chief Minister in LIC policies in his name with a hefty, one-time premium. He is also into an agreement with the Chief Minister for selling produce from his farms.
Mr. Virbhadra Singh’s wife, Pratibha Singh, has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate on July 28 after she failed to appear before the agency on July 20.
There will be a hearing of the case at the Delhi High Court on July 29, when the ED is expected to file its reply.
Assets attachedThe agency filed the case on a CBI complaint in September last and conducted searches in Delhi, Maharashtra and West Bengal.
The charge is that Mr. Singh and his family amassed Rs. 6.1 crore between 2009 and 2011, disproportionate to the known sources of his income, when he was Union Minister for Steel in UPA-II.
The ED also attached Mr. Singh’s assets worth Rs. 8 crore in New Delhi.
