Himachal Cabinet meeting on Monday after arrest in Virbhadra case

Shimla, July 10: An emergency meeting of the Himachal Pradesh Cabinet will be held here on Monday, an official spokesman said on Sunday. The spokesman, however, refused to divulge the meeting agenda. The last routine cabinet meeting was held here on July 8. The meeting comes in the wake of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) agent And Chauhan’s arrest on Friday by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) from Chandigarh under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Chauhan is accused of investing Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh’s “tainted” money of Rs 5 crore in LIC policies purchased in Virbhadra’s me and those of his family members, including wife Pratibha Singh. The ED confirmed Chauhan’s arrest on Twitter on Saturday. This is the first arrest by the ED in the money laundering case against the Chief Minister. The ED reportedly found that Virbhadra Singh had accumulated assets worth Rs 6.03 crore in his me and in the me of his family members, which were disproportiote to his known sources of income, during his tenure as the Union Steel Minister from 2009 to 2011. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is also investigating the case. Last month, Virbhadra Singh was summoned twice and he allegedly “failed to explain the evidences” against him during CBI questioning in New Delhi in the disproportiote wealth case. (ians)