Prima facie case appears to be made out against Virbhadra: Centre to HC

, Aug 6: The Centre today told the Delhi High Court that a prima facie case of money laundering appeared to be made out against

Chief Minister

.

A bench headed by Chief Justice G Rohini also asked the Income Tax Department to file before it tax assessment record and other documents of the chief Minister within a week.

"In the meantime, we would like to peruse status reports filed by the CBI in the case," the bench, also comprising Justice Jayant Nath, said. Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain, appearing for the Centre, said, "There was enough prima facie material available on record to say that a money laundering case is made out against respondent no. 5 (Virbhadra Singh)."

The ASG was responding to the submissions made by Prashant Bhushan, who is representing NGO Common Cause, that an undue delay has been caused by the agency in registering an FIR despite the fact that there is sufficient material to prosecute the chief minister.

Only the CBI can say about the exact status of the investigation, the ASG said. The CBI had earlier told the high court that it can probe allegations of corruption and bribery against the Congress leader during his tenure as chief minister of Himachal Pradesh in 2002 after the court issues necessary order.

The agency had placed an affidavit before the court which on April 4 had asked the CBI to expedite the preliminary enquiry into the allegations of corruption and bribery against Singh and to take it to a logical conclusion.

In the affidavit, the CBI had said probe into the allegations against Singh pertaining to grant of Sai Koti Hydel Power Project to Venture Energy and Technology Pvt Ltd on June 14, 2002 "would require order of the competent high court having jurisdiction". Earlier, the court had expressed concern over the delay in probing the matter and had said the CBI cannot take so much time.

PTI