The Enforcement Directorate has registered a case of money laundering against Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh in connection with the disproportionate assets case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
The case has been registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, which allows the Directorate to attach and confiscate proceeds of crime.
Preliminary enquiry
The CBI has alleged that Mr. Singh, his wife Pratibha Singh and associates Anand and Chunni Lal Chauhan amassed assets worth over Rs. 6 crore disproportionate to their known sources of income. The agency had launched a preliminary enquiry into the same allegations in June.
It has been alleged that as Union Minister of Steel during 2009-2012, Mr. Singh amassed unaccounted assets in his name and that of his family members. Anand and Chunni Lal allegedly assisted the former Union Minister in committing the offence.
The CBI found that Mr. Singh had allegedly invested his unaccounted income in LIC polices by showing the amount as agricultural income. Insurance policies were also purchased in the name of his wife and other family members.
According to the CBI, this was done by creating a memorandum of understanding dated June 15, 2008, for maintenance of an apple orchard for three years. Mr. Singh’s associates allegedly deposited Rs. 5 crore in his bank account and debited the same through cheques for buying LIC policies.
Later, the CBI alleged, Mr. Singh attempted to legitimise the transaction as agricultural income by filing revised Income-Tax returns in 2012. “The Income-Tax Department did not find the income, as claimed in the revised Income-Tax returns, tenable,” said an official.
The CBI also identified a South Delhi property that was purportedly in the name of the Chief Minister’s wife.
