ED raids Virbhadra aides in DA case

Tribune News Service

New Delhi/Shimla, November 20

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today raided around a dozen premises in three cities in the money laundering case involving Himachal Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh. 

Sources said the searches were carried out in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata on the premises of Singh's associates and those named in the FIR lodged by the agency at its headquarters in New Delhi. 

The searches began early in the morning and some business entities that allegedly received funds from the Chief Minister's associates too were scanned, said sources.

The ED had filed the case against Singh under various provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after taking cognisance of a criminal complaint filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation in September.

Refusing to divulge details about the raids, ED officials said the investigators had gathered some "important" documents and detected the "proceeds of crime" allegedly channelled by Singh and his associates by using "purported illegal" routes.

It is alleged that Singh and his family members had amassed disproportionate assets (DA) worth Rs 6.1 crore between 2009 and 2011 when he was Union Steel Minister. 

The CBI suspects that during the period (2009-11), the CM allegedly invested Rs 6.1 crore in life insurance policies in his and his family members' names, claiming the money to be his agricultural income. It is also alleged that Singh attempted to legitimise the amount as agricultural income by filing revised Income Tax returns in 2012.

Himachal Youth Congress chief and Virbhadra's son Vikramaditya Singh alleged the ED was under pressure from Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who had levelled these charges against the CM ahead of the state Assembly poll in 2012.