Himachal CM appears before ED in Delhi

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on Thursday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) here in connection with a money laundering case registered against him and others. Singh arrived at the agency's office here in his official car, with a covered beacon, at about 12:00 noon.

Sporting his trademark 'Himachali topi', the CM did not interact with media persons on the spot and was seen raising his fist in the air and heard reciting some lines of a patriotic poem: "Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamare dil mein hain, dekhna hai zor kitna baju e qaatil mein hai."

The agency has summoned Singh in order to record his statement in this case and also to confront him with some documents it has seized and recovered in this case of disproportionate assets.

The CM, last week, had also sent a communication to the agency stating his reasons for not being able to appear before it all this while and had sought a new date from it, after which the new summons were issued for Thursday.

The ED had on Wednesday refused to give any assurance in the Delhi High Court that it will not arrest Singh when he appears before it. The submission was made before Justice R K Gauba by the ED during the hearing of Singh's plea for quashing of the money laundering proceedings against him.

The ED summons have come close on the heels of filing of a charge sheet by the CBI against Singh, his wife and others for allegedly amassing assets worth around Rs 10 crore disproportionate to their known sources of income.