Himachal CM tries to catch BJP on slippery wicket

"Now as a face-saving exercise, he ordered his officers to speed up the probe against the HPCA," Satti added.

The chief minister has, however, denied any wrongdoing during his tenure as steel minister.

Virbhadra Singh, who is at the helm for a record sixth innings, finds himself enmeshed in legal wrangles in at least four cases in barely three months, officials said.

The latest is the state high court ordering the retrial of a criminal defamation case pending against him for over eight years.

The other cases pending against Virbhadra Singh include a public suit in the Delhi High Court seeking a court-monitored investigation into allegations of corruption and a directive to the high court to reconsider a plea to implead him in the HPCA row.