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Graft case: Steel minister flays HP chief minister

August 07, 2009 15:27 IST

Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh on Friday accused Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal of being behind the lodging of FIR against him and his wife in a graft case.

"It is a 20-year-old case. Prem Kumar Dhumal is the person who is behind it," he told media persons in New Delhi on the sidelines of a programme.

On Monday, Singh and his wife Pratibha were booked in a corruption case by the Himachal Pradesh vigilance bureau.

An FIR was registered under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988

against Singh and his wife.

The sections relate to misuse of official position and criminal misconduct. The case was 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.

Earlier, the Union minister had termed the FIR as a 'cheap gimmick, which shall collapse under its own weight'.

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