Virbhadra PMLA case: LIC agent sent to judicial custody till July 26

A special court on Wednesday sent an LIC agent, arrested in the connection with a money-laundering case against Himachal Pradesh CM Virbhadra Singh to judicial custody till July 26. Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Kumar, sent the agent, Anand Chauhan, to jail, after which he moved a bail application, which the court put up for hearing on July 19.

The court has asked the Enforcement Department (ED) to file a reply to the bail plea on the date of hearing. During the hearing, Chauhan, who was produced after his expiry of four days ED custody, alleged that he was tortured during the period by some agency’s officials, who asked him to turn an approver in the case. The court sought the agency’s response to these allegations.

Chauhan was arrested from Chandigarh on January 9, after which he was produced before the court here, which sent him to four-day ED custody. Chauhan was arrested under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) as he was allegedly not cooperating with the investigating officer of the case.