Shimla: Union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife have been booked in a two-year-old corruption case by the Himachal Pradesh vigilance bureau, triggering an angry response from the veteran Congress leader who saw it as an act of political vendetta by the BJP regime.
After getting state government's approval, an FIR was registered under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 on Monday night against Singh and his wife, Pratibha, D S Manhas, Director General of the State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau, said on Tuesday.
The sections relate to misuse of official position and criminal misconduct.
"The FIR is a cheap gimmick which shall collapse under its own weight. It is another desperate move to damage me and the Congress party through false and baseless accusations and unscrupulous vilification," Singh said in New Delhi adding it was an act of political vendetta against him by the BJP government in the state.
The case has been registered on the complaint of a retired IAS officer S M Katwal on the basis of an audio CD released by former HP minister Vijay Singh Mankotia in 2007 claiming that it contained the voice of Singh and his wife talking to a retired bureaucrat Mohinder Lal (who has since died) about alleged corruption, a release from the state vigilance bureau said.