RAWAT BOOKED IN HORSE-TRADING CASE
NEW DELHI: The CBI on Wednesday registered a case against Harish Rawat, former Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Harak Singh Rawat, a former Cabinet Minister in the Rawat government and Umesh Kumar, CEO of Samachar Plus News in a case of horsetrading MLAS that allegedly took place after the Assembly in the state passed the finance bill in March 2016.
While the case arose out of a preliminary enquiry registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation more than four years ago, officials here said that the FIR in the case has been filed after a detailed probe that included all video material in the case being thoroughly examined by the Forensic Sciences Laboratory in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
Moreover, the FIR has been registered after the Uttarakhand High Court had on September 30 given the central agency permission to go ahead with its probe in the case.
According to the CBI, Harak Singh Rawat, who was then a Cabinet Minister in the state had flown to Gurugram with other dissident MLAS in a chartered flight and then arranged a meeting with Umesh Kumar, CEO and Editor-in-chief of Samachar Plus New channel.
At this point, Kumar allegedly entered into a conspiracy with Harak Singh to extort money from then CM Harish Rawat in exchange for extending support to his government in the state. Accordingly, Kumar arranged a meeting with Rawat in the VIP lounge of the Dehradun Airport on March 23, where he was to negotiate the deal on behalf of Harak Singh. However, Kumar had covertly recorded the meeting with Rawat.
An analysis of the video footage showed that Kumar first spoke to Harak Singh on the phone, asking him to inform Rawat that he was to negotiate on his behalf. The conversation that subsequently ensued between Kumar and Rawat revealed that Harak Singh was demanding the post of Deputy Chief Minister, and if not possible, at least two departments of his choice and cash in exchange for returning along with two other MLAS.
Eventually, a deal was finalised to give Harak Singh two departments and Rs 15 crore in cash, part of which was to be arranged by Kumar himself. At the negotiation, Rawat is also heard mentioning that if the MLAS come back, they can earn amounts up to Rs 30 crore through under-the-table deals at select departments.
As per the deal brokered by Kumar, Rawat was to arrange for Rs 5 crore and he was to arrange the remaining Rs 10 crore in Delhi for the payment, which had been scheduled for March 29, 2016.
While Rawat has denied all the allegations against him, claiming that the video footage of his meeting with Kumar as fake, a forensic report from the Gandhinagar FSL shows that there has been no addition, deletion, insertion, tampering or morphing of any kind in the video, essentially ruling it as genuine.
Moreover, Kumar's role in the case has also been questioned as he is known for being part of extortion and blackmailing cases. In fact, the Samachar Plus CEO was arrested in 2018 by state police in Uttarakhand for trying to falsely implicate CM Trivendra Singh Rawat in another sting operation case.
In fact, the CBI has previously questioned both Rawat and Kumar in connection with the case, but registered the case only after the Uttarakhand High Court gave its nod to prosecute the former CM.