Himachal Pradesh CM Virbhadra sees plot to topple his govt

NEW DELHI: Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh — who faces a CBI charge-sheet in an alleged corruption case and whose farmhouse in a Delhi suburb of was attached by Enforcement Directorate (ED) recently — has alleged that there was “a well-planned conspiracy to destroy” his public image and “destabilise the elected government” in the run up to the year-end assembly polls to the state.

He accused the ED of “concealing facts and giving out a concocted value” of assets seized to “sensationalise” the matter.

“It was a matter of grave concern that a responsible government agency was behaving in such a manner and spreading a canard. The Centre had been using its full might to harass and destabilise a duly-elected government and the ED and the CBI were being misused to probe bogus charges, even though nothing incriminating had been found so far,” Singh said in New Delhi on Tuesday.


Alleging “an officer with RSS background, Vinod Sharma, (Deputy Director of I-T, Faridabad) was used without jurisdiction to create baseless reports under instructions from the I-T Dept, Chandigarh, with mala fide intent to help create false cases using ED and CBI,” Singh said, “the farmland was purchased for only Rs 1.20 cr by the company, Ms Mapple, promoted by son Vikrmaditya.”