Virbhadra Singh had been booked for alleged money laundering by the ED earlier this month.
In fresh trouble for Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, the Enforcement Directorate has reportedly summoned him to appear before it in the money laundering case it is investigating against him.
The directorate had, on November 15, registered a money laundering case against Mr Singh on the basis of a complaint by the CBI, which is already investigating corruption charges against him.
Sources told NDTV that Mr Singh has been given the option of skipping an appearance before the agency. "It is the first summons to the Chief Minister,'' said an official, "so we have given him an option to appear through his lawyers.''
The appearance before the ED has to be by the first week of December.
The CBI is investigating charges against Mr Singh and his family members for allegedly amassing wealth of Rs. 6.1 crore, alleging that it was disproportionate to their known sources of income during 2009-2011, when he was Union Minister of Steel in the UPA government.
The CBI had lodged the FIR under the Prevention of Corruption Act, naming Mr Singh, his wife Pratibha Singh, LIC agent Anand Chauhan and Chunni Lal Chauhan in September. Mr Singh had invested the money in life insurance policies in his and his family members' names through the agent.
On September 26, the CBI had searched the chief minister's residence and 10 other places in connection with the case. More raids, this time by the ED, followed earlier this month, after the registration of the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.