No conspiracy against Virbhadra, asserts Dhumal

SHIMLA - Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal Monday said there is no political conspiracy against union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh, against whom police slapped cases for corruption last year.

“There is neither any political conspiracy nor any vendetta against Virbhadra Singh,” Dhumal said in a statement, a day after his political rival alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state has registered false corruption cases against him.

“The law is taking its own course and no one can be above law. Virbhadra Singh should know it,” he said.

The Himachal Pradesh High Court Sep 3 turned down Virbhadra Singh’s petition to transfer his case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and to quash the police complaint against him and his wife filed last year.

Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh were booked by police Aug 3 last year under the Prevention of Corruption Act for alleged misuse of his official position and criminal misconduct when he was the chief minister in 1989.

According to police, the former chief minister and his wife were booked on the basis of an audio CD released by Virbhadra Singh’s political adversary Vijai Singh Mankotia in 2007.

In the CD, Virbhadra Singh was heard allegedly referring to some monetary transactions in his phone conversation with Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Mahinder Lal, who is now dead, police said.

It also allegedly contained the voices of his wife and some industrialists.

Dhumal said even the report of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (Chandigarh) clearly indicated that the voice in the CD was of Virbhadra Singh.