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FIR a desperate act of political vendetta: Singh
Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh on Tuesday dismissed as a "cheap gimmick" a complaint of criminal misconduct filed against him by the Himachal Pradesh anti- corruption bureau.
Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh on Tuesday dismissed as a "cheap gimmick" a complaint of criminal misconduct filed against him by the Himachal Pradesh anti- corruption bureau.
"The FIR is a cheap gimmick which shall collapse under its own weight. It is another desperate move to damage the Congress party through false and baseless accusations and unscrupulous vilification," he said in a statement here.
The complaint registered last night is based on an audio CD released by former minister Vijay Singh Mankotia, who claimed that the disc contains the voice of Singh and his wife talking to a retired IAS officer Mohinder Singh money exchange.
"The so-called CD has been in the air for more than two years. If any such CD in fact exists it is certainly an exercise in fabrication and doctoring," he said.
Singh noted that he has already filed a defamation suit against Mankotia, who first released the CD at Dharamshala in May 2007. The matter is under trial at a court in Shimla.
"This desperate act of the state government is nothing but an act of political vendetta. The first time this CD was released Dhumal was going to contest the Lok Sabha by-elections in 2007. Now the Vidhan Sabha by-elections are imminent.
It seems the BJP remembers this CD only before elections."
