Uttarakhand: ED summons veteran Congress leader Harak Singh Rawat again, asked to appear on April 2
The troubles of former cabinet minister and senior Congress leader Harak Singh Rawat are showing no signs of abating. Enforcement Directorate i.e. ED has again summoned Harak Singh Rawat. Harak Singh has been asked to appear in the ED office on April 2. Even before this, ED had summoned Harak Singh Rawat and his daughter-in-law Anukriti Gusain in the money laundering case, and also raided some of their locations.
This inquiry is being conducted into illegal tree cutting, illegal construction and many other cases in Corbett National Park during the tenure of the then Forest Minister Harak Singh Rawat. Harak Singh Rawat has been asked to appear in the ED office on April 2, while his wife Deepti Rawat and others have also been summoned in the month of April. At present, Harak Singh Rawat has clearly refused to say anything in this matter.
In fact, earlier on February 7, ED had raided 17 places including the houses of Harak Singh Rawat and some of his close associates Virendra Singh Kandari and former IFS officers Kishan Chand and Brij Bihari Sharma in connection with the money laundering case. Then the ED team had recovered cash worth Rs 1.10 crore and about 1.3 kg of gold worth Rs 80 lakh. Apart from this, ED also received foreign currency worth Rs 10 lakh. Taking action then, ED also seized bank lockers, digital equipment and documents related to immovable properties.
Then the ED issued a press note saying that Virendra Singh Kandari and Narendra Kumar Walia, along with Harak Singh Rawat, had hatched a criminal conspiracy and registered two powers of attorney for one land. After this, the accused had illegally sold that land to Harak Singh Rawat’s wife Deepti Rawat and Lakshmi Singh. On which Doon Institute of Medical Science, Dehradun was constructed under Smt. Purnadevi Memorial Trust.
ED said that Uttarakhand Police has registered a case in this matter and has also started investigating the matter. Police have invoked various sections of IPC 1860 against Virendra Singh Kandari and others. Apart from this, Harak Singh Rawat has also been accused of misuse of government treasury.
According to ED’s allegations, various sections of Forest Conservation Act, Wild Life (Protection) Act and PC Act 1988 have been imposed against many people including former IFS Brij Bihari Sharma and Kishan Chand. It is alleged that all of them, along with the then Forest Minister Harak Singh Rawat, violated the rules of the Uttarakhand government and got the tender published for a higher amount than the financial powers. It was told by ED that investigation has revealed that he has misused the money under Tiger Conservation Foundation and CAMPA heads by making fake documents. Along with this, instead of 163 trees in Corbett, more than 6000 trees have been cut illegally.
However, Congress had called it an action taken out of malice. After this action taken during the elections, Harak Singh Rawat had said that if he is found guilty then he is ready to face every punishment. Harak had said that during his tenure he has not got even a single illegal leaf cut.
