Disproportionate assets case: Delhi court grants bail to LIC agent

A Delhi court on Tuesday granted bail to Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) agent Anand Chauhan in a disproportionate assets case involving former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh.

The court also directed Chauhan to furnish bail bond of Rs 50,000 with two sureties of the same amount.

Chauhan was arrested in July last year in Chandigarh by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), for not cooperating with the agency.

The ED in September, last year, had filed a chargesheet against Chauhan in the money laundering case, also involving Virbhadra Singh and others. He was instrumental in investing Rs 5 crore in LIC polices in the name of the Singh, including his wife and children.

Under the PMLA, which is a criminal law, the ED is empowered to conduct investigations to trace assets, derived out of the proceeds of crime, to provisionally attach and confiscate the same, and to arrest and prosecute the offenders, found to be involved in money laundering.