Virbhadra Singh ([viːrəbʰəd̪rə siⁿɦə] ⓘ; 23 June 1934 – 8 July 2021)[6] was an Indian politician who served 6 terms and 21 years as the 4th Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh.

Virbhadra Singh was born on 23 June 1934 at Sarahan, Shimla district[10] in the royal Rajput family[11] of the erstwhile princely state of Bushahr.

[12] He was the 122nd[13] titular Raja of Bushahr from 1947 until 1971, when, by the 26th Amendment to the Constitution of India, the privy purses of the princes were abolished and official recognition of their titles came to an end.

[10] Between 1976 and 1977, Singh held the national office of Deputy Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation in central cabinet.

He then became cabinet minister with responsibility for Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises,[19] until resigning from office in June 2012.

A consequence of these interests is that he was president of the Sanskrit Sahitya Sammelan and of the Himachal Pradesh branch of the Friends of the Soviet Union.

[34] The alleged recordings, which involved a now-dead officer of the Indian Administrative Service and several industrialists, dated from 2007 and were provided by a political opponent, Vijai Singh Mankotia.

[35] The couple were granted bail in December 2010, but in April 2011, the state government requested that this be rescinded due to allegations of witness tampering.

[36][37] The Singhs have attempted to have the matter taken out of police hands and passed to the Central Bureau of Investigation, as well as seeking a stay on further trial court proceedings.

In January 2012, the Himachal Pradesh High Court had refused the latest of their petitions aimed at achieving the transfer and stay.

[39] In 2015 the Central Bureau of Investigation filed a case against Singh and his family for owning assets to the tune of Rs.

[40][41] On Saturday, 26 September, the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) raided 11 properties of Virbhadra Singh to probe the charges of accumulating disproportionate assets.

[43] Singh's health deteriorated after he suffered from a cardiac arrest on 5 July 2021 in Indira Gandhi Medical College, Shimla.