ED asks Harak Singh to appear on April 2
DEHRADUN: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday asked former minister and Congress leader Harak Singh Rawat to appear before it on April 2 in connection with a money laundering case.
Rawat had earlier skipped two summons by the central agency, citing preoccupation in the party meetings in Delhi for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The Congress leader had sought one month’s time from the agency.
Rawat was first asked to appear before the central agency on February 29, and then on March 4.
Vijay Chauhan, a close aide of Harak Singh Rawat, said: “The ED has asked Rawat to appear before it on April 2. Rawat couldn’t appear before the agency earlier due to his preoccupation with party meetings in Delhi for the preparations of Lok Sabha elections.”
The ED, which conducted search operations at 17 locations in Uttarakhand, Delhi and Haryana on February 7 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 in the case of Birendra Singh Kandari (close associate of Harak Singh Rawat, former forest minister), Brij Bihari Sharma (former ranger of Pakhro Range), Kishan Chand (the then DFO Kalagarh) and others, had recovered and seized ₹1.10 cash, 1.3 kg gold worth over ₹80 lakh and foreign currency worth over ₹10 lakh.
Apart from this, the central agency has also recovered and seized bank lockers, digital devices, and voluminous documents pertaining to the immovable properties of the accused, according to the statement released by ED on February 8.
ED raids were 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 a first information report (FIR) registered by the state police under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against Birendra Singh Kandari and others. ED investigation has revealed that accused Birendra Singh Kandari (a close associate of Harak Singh Rawat), and 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”.
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 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.”
The Supreme Court had earlier slammed Harak Singh Rawat and said that the politician-bureaucrat nexus has resulted in heavy damage to the environment of Corbett National Park for some political and commercial gain.
“This is a classic case that shows how the politicians and the bureaucrats have thrown the public trust doctrine in the dustbin,” the court said.
ED had initiated an investigation on the basis of 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 various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Forest Conservation Act, Wild Life (Protection) Act & Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
On March 16, Anukriti Gusain, daughter-in-law of Harak Singh Rawat, had resigned from Congress.
She cited “personal reasons” for her resignation from the party in her letter to state Congress president Karan Mahara.