Virbhadra, wife seek bail in disproportionate assets case

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife on Monday sought bail after appearing before a court as accused in the Rs 10 crore disproportionate assets case against them.
 
The court posted the matter for May 29 after the CBI sought time to file its response to the bail applications moved by the senior Congress leader and his wife Pratibha, who are charge-sheeted in the case.
 
The CBI had recently charge-sheeted Singh and others for amassing assets worth around Rs 10.30 crore disproportionate to their known sources of income during 2009-11 when he was Union Power Minister.
 
In the charge sheet running into 500 pages, Singh and others are charged with forgery and corruption among other illegalities. The CBI has mentioned 225 witnesses and 442 documents to support its case in the charge sheet.
 
Singh was accompanied to the court by senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh who accused the Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using agencies like the CBI and ED to clamp down on the opposition.

"Their own leaders spent over Rs 500 crore in marriage while the demonetisation drive was on and their own people are involved in terrorism. He is framing innocents. The CBI was a caged parrot; now so is the NIA and ED. The directors are given extensions as carrots," Digvijay told reporters outside court premises.

The CBI had in September 2015 named Singh, his wife, LIC agent Anand Chauhan and his brother C L Chauhan as the accused in its FIR.
 
The LIC agent has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate, which registered a case on the basis of the CBI FIR, on charges of money laundering in the case. Chauhan, who is presently in judicial custody, was accused of investing Singh's money in life insurance policies and help him launder money. The money was invested in insurance policies claiming this money to be Singh's agricultural income.
 
On April 3, the ED had attached a Rs 27.29 crore worth farmhouse in south Delhi purchased by Singh, whose "funding came through shell companies" floated by an industrialist.
 
The total attachment by the ED in connection with its money laundering probe against Singh now stands at Rs 35.22 crore, the first being in March 2016 when assets worth Rs 7.93 crore that included a south Delhi flat were seized.
 
The attached properties included a Rs 27.29 crore worth farmhouse in south Delhi purchased by Singh, whose "funding came through shell companies" floated by an industrialist, the ED had said earlier.