ED slaps case on Himachal Pradesh CM Virbhadra Singh, his Wife

NEW DELHI: Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh faces fresh trouble, with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under union finance ministry registering a case of money laundering against him, his wife and others. ED officials alleged that the former union minister used “bogus entries” for transfer of the ill-gotten money.

The ED case is based on the Central Bureau of Investigation’s first information report, which accused Singh and his wife of allegedly accumulating assets worth Rs 6.03 crore during his term as union minister during the previous United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre.

The properties, according to officials, were purchased in the name of Singh’s family members and were found to be disproportionate to his known sources of income.

Singh has denied the allegations and accused the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre of “political vendetta”.

In September, the CBI had conducted raids at Singh’s residence on the day of his daughter’s wedding, for which the agency was severely criticised. ED has registered the money laundering case against Singh and his wife in Delhi because it felt he might try to influence the probe if the case is registered in Chandigarh or Shimla, officials said.

Earlier, the state government had tried to repatriate an additional Superintendent of Police BS Negi, presently on deputation with ED at Shimla. Negi had questioned Singh’s private secretary, IAS officer Subhash Ahluwalia, in a separate case filed under the Foreign Exchange Management Act.