New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday summoned Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh to appear before it on 13 April to record his statement in an ongoing money-laundering investigation against him.
The ED clarified that Singh was summoned after he declined an earlier summons citing work commitments.
“Fresh summons have been issued to Singh to record his statement. He has been asked to depose before the Investigating Officer (IO) of the case on 13 April in New Delhi,” an ED official said, requesting anonymity.
On 4 April, the ED provisionally attached a farmhouse in Delhi belonging to Singh’s son with a market value of Rs27.29 crore, in connection with the probe. The ED action was preceded by the CBI filing a charge sheet on 31 March against Singh for allegedly amassing assets worth Rs10 crore, disproportionate to their known sources of income when Singh was Union steel minister from 2009-2011.
The ED had filed a case under criminal provisions of the anti-money laundering law after taking cognizance of a CBI complaint filed in September 2015.
The CBI chargesheet claimed that Singh had amassed assets worth around Rs10 crore which were 192% of his total income during his tenure as Union minister.
The final CBI report filed against nine people for alleged offences punishable under section 109 (abetment) and 465 (punishment for forgery) of IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act, listed around 225 witnesses and 442 documents.
Besides, the 82-year-old Congress leader and his wife Pratibha Singh, the report also named Chunni Lal Chauhan, Joginder Singh Ghalta, Prem Raj, Vakamulla Chandrasekhar, Lawan Kumar Roach and Ram Prakash Bhatia as accused.
The report also named as accused LIC agent Anand Chauhan, who is currently in judicial custody. Chauhan was arrested by the ED on 9 July last year in a separate money laundering case related to the present case.
PTI contributed to this story.
