Court confirms farmhouse order
Property was attached in March
New Delhi, Sept. 3: A special court here has confirmed an Enforcement Directorate (ED) order to attach a farmhouse in connection with its money laundering probe against Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh and his family.
The central probe agency had attached the property in March in upmarket South Delhi’s area of Dera Mandi near Mehrauli, alleging it was purchased “out of money laundered through shell firms”. The agency had issued a provisional attachment order for the farmhouse under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). It had said while the book value of the asset is `6.61 crore, its market value is `27.29 crore, as per a valuation done by the Income Tax Department. A recent order of Tushar V. Shah, member, Adjudicating Authority of PMLA, said the asset was “involved in money laundering”. “I, therefore, hereby confirm the attachment of the properties made under subsection (1) of Section 5 of PMLA,” the order said.
“The said attachment shall continue during the pendency of the proceedings relating to offence under the PMLA,” it said confirming the ED order of March 31. The farmhouse, the ED had said, is in the name of Ms Maple Destination and Dreambuild Private Limited, a firm in which Singh’s son Vikramaditya is a major shareholder and his daughter Aprajita a minor shareholder.