CBI checking claims of Virbhadra Singh's insurance agent

NEW DELHI: CBI is checking into claims made by an insurance agent about depositing Rs five crore in a bank account in the name of Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his family as the agency geared up its probe into alleged payments to the tune of Rs 2.8 crore to a person with the initials ' VBS'.

Having registered a Preliminary Enquiry (PE) against unknown persons last year after receiving a complaint from the State Trading Corporation, the CBI recently recorded the statement of an insurance agent who is said to have deposited Rs five crore in the bank account of Singh and his family towards buying life insurance policies.

Singh was in the eye of a storm last year after Income Tax department recovered internal papers of Mumbai-based ISPAT Industries Limited in 2010 which had entries like 'VBS' and 'APS to MoS'.

There were four entries made to the listed beneficiary -- 'VBS'--which totalled up to 2.8 crores from October, 2009 to October, 2010. Singh, who has outright denied all the allegations of payoff, was Steel Minister from May 28, 2009 to January 18, 2011.