Cases fabricated, will fall flat: Himachal CM

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh Wednesday said he has full faith in the judiciary and the investigating agencies, and the "false and fabricated" cases against him would fall flat.

His reaction came in the wake of the Centre's submission in the Delhi High Court that there was enough material on record to register a First Information Report (FIR) against Virbhadra Singh in a money laundering case.

The chief minister said a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Prashant Bhushan on behalf of NGO Common Cause was listed Wednesday in the high court and the court has not made any adverse order or comment against him.

Virbhadra Singh in a statement said that as per his information the court has asked the CBI and the income tax authorities to file status report in the court within a week.

The chief minister said ever since assembly elections were announced in the state in 2012 and he was asked to lead the campaign by the Congress high command, BJP leader and former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, his sons and associates have been personally targetting him with a political motive, firstly with an objective of stopping the Congress from forming the government and thereafter to destabilise the Congress government.

"Dhumal and family have a one-point programme of personally attacking me as they find me to be a biggest obstacle in their political ambition of usurping power in the state. In the recent convention of the state BJP in Solan, the sole agenda was passing a resolution against me and to target me," he said.

Virbhadra Singh said Dhumal has been pressurising the union government to take action against him on the basis of "false and fabricated" cases and destabilise the democratically elected government in the state.

"I would come out clean in this case and the ulterior designs of his opponents would fall flat," the chief minister added.

Earlier Wednesday appearing before Delhi High Court Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Sanjay Jain said: "There is a clear case of money laundering".

"Prima facie there is enough material on record to register an FIR and it is for the CBI to explain why it is holding back the case. It's a clear case of money laundering," said Jain.

The court was hearing the PIL seeking a CBI inquiry into the corruption allegations against Virbhadra Singh when he was union steel minister.

There are allegations of corruption, money laundering and possession of assets disproportionate to known sources of income against Virbhadra Singh.

Bhushan told the court there were some recent instances of money laundering and corruption by Singh's family members. The CBI initiated a preliminary inquiry one-and-a-half years ago but it has gone nowhere, argued Bhushan.

The court posted the matter for Aug 20 when it will have a look at the status report filed by the CBI.

The court also asked the income tax department to file a status report.