₹ 1.10 cr cash, 1.3kg gold seized in raids linked to ex-min Rawat: ED
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) which conducted raids at multiple locations linked to former forest minister and Congress leader Harak Singh Rawat in connection with an alleged forest scam as part of a money laundering investigation, has recovered cash, valuables and foreign currency, an official statement said on Thursday .
The ED had raided 17 locations in Uttarakhand, Delhi and Haryana on Wednesday under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and recovered ₹ 1.10 crore cash, 1.3kg gold worth over ₹ 80 lakh and foreign currency worth over ₹ 10 lakh.
Apart from this, ED has also recovered and seized bank lockers, digital devices, and voluminous documents pertaining to the immovable properties of the accused, according to the statement.
HT had reported on Wednesday that ED raids are linked to two different cases and allegations against Harak Singh Rawat, former forest minister, who left BJP and joined Congress in January 2022, and his associates including “illegal” felling of trees and construction in the state’s Corbett Tiger Reserve and “fraudulent” acquisition of land in Dehradun district for an educational institute run by a trust linked to the politician and his family.
ED had initiated an investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by Uttarakhand Police under provisions of the Indian Penal Code against Rawat’s close associate Birendra Singh Kandari and others. ED investigation has revealed that Kandari and another accused Narendra Kumar Walia “in a criminal conspiracy with Harak Singh Rawat had got registered two powers of attorney of land for which the court had cancelled the sale deed”. “Further, the accused persons had illegally sold the said land to Deepti Rawat, wife of Harak Singh Rawat and Laxmi Singh whereon Doon Institute of Medical Science, Dehradun has been constructed under Shrimati Poorna Devi Memorial Trust”, said the statement.
The Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) in its report in January last year had recommended the issuance of a “notice to the then forest minister Dr Harak Singh Rawat who is largely responsible for the mess created by Kishan Chand in Corbett Tiger Reserve, as brought out in this report and take appropriate action after hearing the then forest minister”.
ED had initiated an investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by vigilance establishment Dehradun against Brij Bihari Sharma (former ranger of Pakhro Range), Kishan Chand (retired Indian Forest Service officer) and others under the IPC, Forest Conservation Act, Wild Life (Protection) Act & Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 .
ED investigation revealed that accused Kishan Chand, the then DFO and Brij Bihari Sharma, the then forest ranger in a criminal conspiracy with others bureaucrats and then forest minister Harak Singh Rawat managed to “publish a tender of a higher amount than the authorised financial powers and the same was not as per the rules/guidelines of Uttarakhand government”.
“They also fabricated documents and misused the funds under head of Tiger Conservation Foundation and Campa head which caused wrongful loss in multiple of crores to Uttarakhand government and illegally cutting of more than 6000 trees against 163 trees”, said the statement.
Uttarakhand vigilance had arrested IFS officer and the then DFO Kalagarh Kishan Chand, who was on the run, in December 23, 2022, from Uttar Pradesh. He retired in July, 2022. Brij Bihari Sharma was arrested in October, 2022 from Assam.
Over 6,000 trees were felled for the proposed Pakhro tiger safari project in CTR over an area of 16.21 hectares, according to the report of the Forest Survey of India (FSI) last year, based on the analysis of old and new satellite images and field visit by FSI team to the area.
In July last year, principal accountant general (audit) Uttarakhand’s report had found gross financial irregularities in various projects in CTR, Kalagarh Tiger Reserve (KTR) and Lansdowne Forest Divisions.
The report pointed out that no administrative, financial, technical, and statutory approvals were obtained by the division/ department before the commencement of tiger safari work and other works in the vicinity of the safari. On two generators procured by KTR DFO , the report said “one generator was installed at Doon Institute of Medical Science, Dehradun (a private institute run by Harak Singh Rawat’s son) and at Meerawati Filling Station, in Hindrawala, Rishikesh. The division had paid ₹ 15.40 lakh for procurement of the above generators.”
The matter relates to a petition filed by Supreme Court advocate and wildlife activist Gaurav Bansal in 2021. On his petition in Delhi high court on illegal constructions, felling of trees and constructions in CTR, the court on August 23, 2021 had directed National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) to look into the issues raised in the petition. A committee of NTCA had found “glaring felling of trees, making of roads and raising of constructions in Corbett Tiger Reserve”, following which the state government last year requested the principal accountant general (audit) Uttarakhand for an audit.
The CEC in its report said that Harak Singh Rawat was instrumental “in the planning and execution of illegal and unauthorised roads and buildings within the CTR and in the Lansdowne Division” as is evident from “his notings in government files and of him having supervised the illegal works executed by the then DFO (Kalagarh) Kishan Chand”.