CBI Books Himchal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, in assets case
The agency has booked him for owning assets to the tune of Rs 6.1 crore disproportionate to his known sources of income when he was the union minister between 2009 and 2011. The Cases have been filed against his wife Pratibha Singh, son Vikramaditya and daughter Aparajita as well.
Mr. Singh, 82, the longest serving chief minister of the state, has also been accused of granting favours in return for unsecured loans obtained by his wife and children from some private companies. The CBI is probing multiple allegations against him including graft, money-laundering and forgery.
The agency's action comes a day after it raided the home of former union minister Shankarsinh Vaghela in connection to a corruption case, and is seen as a crackdown on senior leaders of the UPA.
Vaghela, who joined the Congress in 1998, has called it "vendetta politics" of the BJP. The allegation against him dates back to 2007-2008. Singh, who handled the Steel and the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises portfolios for the erstwhile UPA government, had to resign from the cabinet in June 2012 over allegations of corruption.
In October 2012, the scandal snowballed after documents accessed by income tax officials listed "VBS" as the recipient of what appeared to be a large kickback from a steel company. The papers dated back to 2009-10, when Mr Singh was the Steel Minister. Mr Singh denied any wrongdoing.
