It’s a state subject, won’t probe Virbhadra Singh loan matter: CBI

NEW DELHI The CBI will not conduct a probe into the allegation of a “quid pro quo” on Himachal Pradesh CM Virbhadra Singh involving a private company, which BJP’s Arun Jaitley had termed an “open-and-shut” case even as Singh admitted on Tuesday that the company’s owner is his “family friend.”

CBI director Ranjit Sinha is of the opinion that the latest allegation is essentially a “state matter” and the bureau cannot take up the probe unless ordered to do so by the Himachal Pradesh HC, SC or the state government itself, a senior official said.

Jaitley had alleged that Singh gave a 10-month extension to the company to execute a hydel project in the state while the company’s promoter Vakamulla Chandershekhar extended him a Rs 2.4-crore unsecured loan.

Singh reached Delhi on Tuesday to explain his stand to the Congress high command even as the party threw its weight behind him and released his eight-page defence as “a statement of facts” in which he admitted that Chandershekhar was a family friend and accepted that a loan was raised from him by cheque. “This is a legal transaction made by cheque and loan is being returned to him in instalments.

Moreover, no favour was shown to Chandershekhar by me or my government,” Singh said, adding that it was the state’s previous BJP government which had allotted the project to the company and granted it four extensions while Singh cancelled the company’s contract last month.

The other two matters mentioned in Jaitley’s letter – regarding suspect payments to Singh figuring as entries in a diary and huge LIC policies in the name of Singh’s family members – are already the subject of a Preliminary Enquiry (PE) by the CBI over the past 14 months. However, precious little has happened in this probe, with not even a First Information Report (FIR) registered so far. The CBI is now dusting up the pending probe and may send a team to Shimla to question Singh. The agency has to file a progress report regarding this case before the Delhi High Court by mid-January.

In a statement on Tuesday, Singh said entries in personal diaries did not constitute material evidence as upheld by the SC in the Jain Hawala case that allegedly carried initials of LK Advani.