ED attaches Virbhadra Singh's Rs 27.29 crore farmhouse

The Enforcement Directorate has attached the Rs 27.29 crore farmhouse here of Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, an official said on Monday.

The agency took the step under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The farmhouse is situated in south Delhi's Mehrauli area.

"The purchase value of the farmhouse is Rs 6.61 crore but its market value is Rs 27 crore. It is in the name of 'Maple Destinations and Dreambuild'," the Enforcement Directorate official said.

He said it was purchased by funding done through shell companies and it was the second attachment in the case.

The Enforcement Directorate's move came after the Central Bureau of Investigation filed a chargesheet against Singh and others for allegedly amassing assets worth Rs 6.03 crore.

The ED had filed a criminal case under the PMLA against Singh and others in 2015 following the CBI's FIR of September 23, 2015 against Singh his wife Pratibha, LIC agent Anand Chauhan and an associate, Chunni Lal, and other unknown persons.

The case was registered after a preliminary inquiry found that Singh, as a Union minister from 2009 to 2012, allegedly accumulated assets worth Rs 6.03 crore, which were disproportionate to his known sources of income.

--IANS

rak/mr