SUPREME COURT STAYS CBI PROBE AGAINST U’KHAND CM IN GRAFT CASE
NEW DELHI : The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, two days after the high court had directed the agency to investigate an alleged bribery case involving Rawat before he became the CM.
The three-judge bench headed by justice Ashok Bhushan said, “Can such an order be passed in a petition where neither any specific prayer for probe is made nor the state or CM is made a party. All of a sudden everybody is taken by surprise.”
The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed an order by the Uttarakhand high court directing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to register a first information report (FIR) against Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on a complaint by a journalist who alleged that he had receive a ₹25 lakh bribe in 2016.
The HC order, passed on Wednesday by a single-judge bench, was challenged by Rawat in the Supreme Court in a special leave petition (SLP).
Attorney general KK Venugopal, who appeared for Rawat, said: “The petition before the high court concerned quashing of an FIR against the journalist and the high court passed the order directing CBI investigation
without hearing the petitioner (Rawat). What we anticipated has happened and now there is a demand for resignation of the chief minister. This order has destabilized the government in the state and should be stayed.”
The HC took suo moto cognizance of the complaint contained in the petition filed by journalist Umesh Sharma, who heads a channel, Samachar Plus, and had uploaded a video on a social media page in June showing documents purported to be in his possession of how Rawat, while he was in-charge of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in Jharkhand, indirectly took a bribe in return for making the alleged bribe-giver, Amratesh Singh Chauhan, a resident of Ranch, chairman of Gau Seva Aayog of Jharkhand.