Himachal CM, relatives under CBI scanner

Another Congress leader has come under CBI scanner in less than 48 hours with the agency filing a preliminary enquiry against Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on Thursday.

He is accused of  of amassing Rs 6.1 crore disproportionate to known sources of income.

His wife Pratibha Singh, son Vikramaditya Singh, daughter Aparajita Singh and one LIC agent Anand Chauhan are also named in the case, which emanates from the period when Virbhadra was Union Steel Minister in the UPA government during 2009-11.

Virbhadra is the second Congress leader to face music after the CBI on Wednesday registered a case against former Union Textiles Minister Shankersinh Vaghela and others for sale of prime property in Mumbai at “throwaway prices”.

The CBI will probe the details of Virbhadra’s investment of Rs 6.1 crore, while serving as Union minister, in life insurance policies of his and his family members through Chauhan. The money was shown as income from agriculture.

The present CBI probe is an offshoot of its inquiry into “bribe payment” made to Virbhadra, which came to light when a diary with mysterious entries of payment to “VBS and APS to MoS”, both suspected to be refering to Singh, were recovered from ISPAT office in Mumbai in 2013.

Following Steel Corporation of India’s complaint, the CBI had registered case to probe bribery charges against Virbhadra and even questioned him in March last year.