The Central Bureau of Investigation teams on Saturday filed a case against Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh and carried out raids at 11 places including his residences in Delhi and Himachal, on a day when his daughter is getting married.
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The agency has been carrying out an inquiry against Singh and his family members for allegedly amassing wealth of ₹6.1 crore disproportionate to the known sources of income while serving as Union Minister of Steel.
CBI sources in Delhi stated that apart from Holly Lodge, similar searches were being conducted at eleven different locations in in Delhi and Singh’s ancestral family home in Sarahan (Himachal Pradesh).
CBI has alleged Singh and his family members acquired illegal income/assets worth Rs 6.1 crore while he was steel minister from 2009 to 2011.
Singh had, however, refuted the allegations.
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They said matters of income tax related to Virbhadra Singh were already pending before various income tax appellate authorities and courts. They said, “we are fearing the misuse of central investigating agencies to implicate Mr. Singh by making false accusations”. Both CBI and the Income Tax department were told to file their respective reports in a sealed cover within four weeks. It appears that at the instance of political leaders another preliminary inquiry in the same matter has been ordered with malafide intention, said the ministers statement.
Soon after the raid in the chief minister’s Shimla residence, Chief Secretary P Mitra and Director General of Police Sanjay Kumar reached there.
CBI sources said the preliminary inquiry was against Singh, his wife Pratibha Singh, son Vikramaditya Singh, daughter Aparajita Singh and an agent of the Life Insurance Corporation, Anand Chauhan.
The Chief Minister and his family members were back at around 11am but did not speak to media persons waiting outside the residence.
“Is this democracy or emergency?”
Azad also demanded a Supreme Court-monitored probe in the Rajasthan mining scam.
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“Countdown of the BJP government has started, as it did in 1977 when the Janata government targeted Indira Gandhi”, he added.
