<p>Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife on Monday appeared in a special court here in connection with a Rs 10 crore disproportionate assets case against them and sought bail.<br /><br />The court posted the matter to 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.<br /><br />The CBI had recently filed a charge sheet against 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 the Union power minister.<br /><br />In the charge sheet running into 500 pages, Singh and others have been charged with forgery and corruption among other illegalities. <br /><br />The CBI has mentioned 225 witnesses and 442 documents to support its case in the chargesheet.<br />Singh was accompanied to the court by senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, who accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using agencies like the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to clampdown on the Opposition.<br /><br />“Their own leaders spent over Rs 500 crore on a marriage while the demonetisation drive was on... Their people are involved in terrorism. He (Modi) is framing innocents. The CBI was a caged parrot. Now, so is the NIA and the ED. Its directors are given extensions as carrots,” Digvijay told reporters outside the court premises.<br /><br />Background<br /><br />In September 2015, the CBI had named Singh, his wife Pratibha, LIC agent Anand Chauhan and his brother C L Chauhan as the accused.<br /><br />The LIC agent has been arrested by the ED, which registered a case on the basis of the CBI FIR, on charges of money laundering. <br /><br />Chauhan, who is presently in judicial custody, has been accused of investing Singh’s money in life insurance policies and help him launder money.<br /><br />On April 3, the ED had attached a farmhouse worth Rs 27.29 crore in south Delhi purchased by Singh, whose “funding came through shell companies” floated by an industrialist.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><br /></p>
<p>Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife on Monday appeared in a special court here in connection with a Rs 10 crore disproportionate assets case against them and sought bail.<br /><br />The court posted the matter to 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.<br /><br />The CBI had recently filed a charge sheet against 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 the Union power minister.<br /><br />In the charge sheet running into 500 pages, Singh and others have been charged with forgery and corruption among other illegalities. <br /><br />The CBI has mentioned 225 witnesses and 442 documents to support its case in the chargesheet.<br />Singh was accompanied to the court by senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, who accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using agencies like the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to clampdown on the Opposition.<br /><br />“Their own leaders spent over Rs 500 crore on a marriage while the demonetisation drive was on... Their people are involved in terrorism. He (Modi) is framing innocents. The CBI was a caged parrot. Now, so is the NIA and the ED. Its directors are given extensions as carrots,” Digvijay told reporters outside the court premises.<br /><br />Background<br /><br />In September 2015, the CBI had named Singh, his wife Pratibha, LIC agent Anand Chauhan and his brother C L Chauhan as the accused.<br /><br />The LIC agent has been arrested by the ED, which registered a case on the basis of the CBI FIR, on charges of money laundering. <br /><br />Chauhan, who is presently in judicial custody, has been accused of investing Singh’s money in life insurance policies and help him launder money.<br /><br />On April 3, the ED had attached a farmhouse worth Rs 27.29 crore in south Delhi purchased by Singh, whose “funding came through shell companies” floated by an industrialist.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><br /></p>
