The CBI and the Enforcement Directorate on Saturday raided the residences of Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh in the hill State and in Delhi following the registration of a disproportionate assets case against him, officials said.
The officials, with vehicles of Chandigarh and Punjab registration numbers, reached Virbhadra Singh’s private residence, Holly lodge, located in Jakhu hills in Shimla in the morning.
“Searches were conducted at 11 locations in Himachal Pradesh and Delhi,” a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officer said in New Delhi.
He said the preliminary inquiry against Virbhadra Singh and his family regarding alleged possession of disproportionate assets has been converted into a regular case under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The raids were also carried out simultaneously at the Chief Minister’s residences in Rampur and Saharan, his native places in upper Shimla, besides Delhi. The raid coincided with the marriage of the Chief Minister’s daughter in Shimla.
Virbhadra Singh and his family were not at home when the team reached their residence. The CBI had on June 18 initiated a preliminary inquiry against Virbhadra Singh and his family over allegations of corruption and acquiring disproportionate assets during his tenure as union steel minister. However, Virbhadra Singh refuted the allegations.
Official sources told IANS that the CBI had restarted the preliminary inquiry on the basis of the income tax department order that said the