Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh used a complex web of investments, unsecured loans, property and share purchase, besides making false claims of agriculture income, to amass illegal assets worth over Rs 10 crore, the CBI has said.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), in its charge sheet filed before a special court here today, alleged that Singh had amassed assets worth Rs 10.30 crore which were disproportionate to his known sources of income to the tune of 192 per cent.
The agency has charged Singh, his wife Pratibha Singh, LIC agency Anand Chauhan, Universal Apple Associate owner Chunni Lal Chauhan, stamp paper vendor Joginder Singh Ghalta, Tarani Infrastructure MD V Chandrasekhar among others for criminal conspiracy and corruption among others.
"It was alleged that during the period from May, 2009 to June, 2012, the then Union Minister of Steel and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises committed criminal misconduct and was found in possession of disproportionate assets worth Rs 10.30 crore in his name as well as in the names of his family members," CBI Spokesperson R K Gaur said.
He alleged that the other accused had allegedly helped Singh in committing the offence including false documents in the shape of Memorandum of Understanding, sale proceeds and also documents submitted by one of the accused before the Income Tax authorities during 2014.
The CBI had registered an FIR in 2015 to probe allegations that Singh had allegedly amassed disproportionate assets. The allegations have been strongly refuted by Singh.
The agency had finalised the probe last year but it could not be filed as the Delhi High Court was hearing a plea of Singh seeking quashing of the FIR.
The agency claimed to have carried out detailed forensic analysis of documents and cyber forensic analysis of the computers of Singh's associates.
It found that money was purportedly routed through a complex web of shell companies into real estate investments as well, CBI sources said.
The CBI has alleged an MoU was signed between Singh and Chauhan on June 15, 2008 for maintenance of an apple orchard for three years.
The probe has found that the MoU was backdated through forgery in the stamp paper after they came to know about CBI probe into their assets, the sources claimed.
The CBI alleged that stamp papers which were used in the MoU were not even printed in 2008 besides the forensic analysis of stamp register shows that name of Anand Chauhan was inserted by overwriting on the stamp purchase register.
The CBI said the purported claims of Rs 5.1 crore being agriculture income from the sale of apples grown in Srikhand Orchard in Palampur was also false.
The agency got the orchard examined by experts of Indian Agriculture Research Institute who in their report said it could not have produced apples worth Rs 5 crore which were mentioned in the revised income tax returns of Singh, the sources said.
Another element is purchase of a farm house worth Rs 1.2 crore by the son of the chief minister in Dera Mandi area. To facilitate the purchase, Rs 90 lakh were allegedly transferred from V Chandrasekhar to Singh while Rs 30 lakh were allegedly routed through a shell company, they said.
The agency has found that the farm house which Vikramaditya Singh was claiming to be mere agriculture land with boundary was actually a furnished farm house with a swimming pool and outhouse, they said.
They said it shows that property was undervalued by at least Rs 2.7 crore to hide alleged disproportionate assets as property price was reduced by same amount for deal which took place three years later.
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