By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 7 Feb: Several teams of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted surprise raids on properties of senior Congress leader and former Cabinet Minister Harak Singh Rawat in Uttarakhand today. At least 10 locations related to Harak Singh Rawat were raided, including the residence of Rawat in Defence Colony in Dehradun, Ayurvedic Medical College in Sahaspur, a hostel in Bidholi village in Dehradun, and properties in Srinagar (District Pauri) and Chandigarh. ED sources claimed that the raids were related to the Pakhro Range Scam of the Forest Department.
Not only this, the ED teams also raided retired IFS officer Kishan Chand’s properties in Haridwar in connection with the same scam and the house of IFS officer Sushant Patnaik. The raids created a political stir throughout the day. Senior Congress leaders Yashpal Arya and Pritam Singh described the raids the result of political vendetta.
The raids continued throughout the day and it is learnt that the ED collected necessary information regarding all the financial matters related to the scam (illegal construction and tree felling) in Pakhro Range of Corbett National Park.
Sources disclosed that family members of Harak Singh Rawat were also interrogated by the ED teams. When the ED team was not given the keys of a cupboard by Rawat’s family, the ED called a keymaker to unlock the cupboard. Many documents were taken out from inside. The entire cupboard was full of documents. People present inside the house had reportedly claimed before the ED team that the original key of the cupboard was lost.
The ED also raided the residential building of Congress leader Harak Singh Rawat in Srinagar. The ED team also interrogated Harak Singh Rawat’s mother and other people present there. The documents kept in the house were investigated. The ED team has also visited Harak Singh Rawat’s hostel in Bidhauli, hotel in Srinagar, ancestral house in Guhad village, and Ayurvedic Medical College in Sahaspur.
When the news of the raids spread in the capital, Congress leader Pritam Singh and Leader of the Opposition Yashpal Arya reached Harak Singh Rawat’s house. Speaking to media persons, they claimed that the BJP functions like a washing machine. The ones who stay in BJP have their sins forgiven. And as soon as anyone facing charges joins any other party, the BJP activates the government machinery to harass that leader.
It is reported that raids were conducted at more than 10 places related to Harak Singh Rawat. During this time various documents were scrutinised. Apart from this, it is also looking into electronic documents to gather information about financial transactions.
ED has initiated action in the Corbett Tiger Reserve case. It is looking into the issues related to financial transactions and money laundering. It may be recalled that, recently, the Enforcement Directorate had also written a letter to the Uttarakhand Forest Headquarters seeking information about several officers of the state. This information was sent to the government. It may further recalled that, in 2019, the Trivendra Singh Rawat government had sought approval from the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change for the construction of a Tiger Safari in Pakhro Range. In 2019-20, work was started on 106 hectares of forest land in Pakhro. It was claimed by the state government that only 163 trees would be cut for this scheme, but later investigation revealed that a much larger number of trees were felled during this period.
It may be recalled that Harak Singh is known to switch political parties on a frequent basis. He was a cabinet minister in the Congress governments under then Chief Ministers Vijay Bahuguna and Harish Rawat before quitting the party and switching over to BJP in 2016 and after the BJP came to power in 2017, he had been appointed Forest Minister and Minister of Medical Education and Technical Education. However, just before the 2022 assembly elections, he returned to Congress but failed to secure a party ticket. Now he is attempting to get a Congress ticket to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha election.
The matter was first raised in the Delhi High Court by wildlife activist Gaurav Bansal. In 2021, the Delhi High Court had directed the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in this regard. The committee constituted by the National Tiger Conservation Authority inspected Corbett Park in September 2021 and submitted its report on 22 October, 2021. The Uttarakhand High Court took suo motu cognisance of the case in October, 2021.
After this, the Uttarakhand Forest Department got the Forest Survey of India to investigate. The Forest Survey of India, through satellite images and field inspection of the entire area (Pakhro, Kalu Shaheed, Nalkhatta and Kalagarh blocks), had concluded that 6,903 trees were cut down instead of 163. The matter then gained momentum. Initially, however, the Forest Department did not accept this report.
In 2022, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) took suo motu cognisance of the matter and formed a 3-member committee. This committee included ADG, Wildlife Department, ADG, Project Tiger, and DG Forest. In March 2023, this committee submitted the report to the National Green Tribunal and mentioned detailed information about the illegal activities in the name of construction and also gave the names of the responsible officers in the report. It is pertinent to note that the names of the then Forest Minister, Harak Singh Rawat, and eight other officials have been mentioned in that report.
On the other hand, the Central Empowered Committee of the Supreme Court had prepared a report on the basis of all these investigations and submitted it to the Supreme Court in January 2023. It was stated in the report that more than Rs 200 crore of the Corbett Foundation’s budget was also used. The Central Empowered Committee had also held the then Forest Minister, Harak Singh Rawat, responsible. After all the investigation reports, the Uttarakhand Forest Department suspended Ranger Brij Bihari, DFO Kishan Chand, Chief Wildlife Warden JS Suhag posted in Corbett. The then PCCF, Rajeev Bhartari, was also removed from his post for overlooking the scam.
Properties of retired IFS officer Kishan Chand raided
By Our Staff Reporter
Haridwar, 7 Feb: The house of former IFS officer Kishan Chand, located in Nand Bihar Colony, Haridwar. was also raided by an Enforcement Directorate (ED) team, today, in relation to the illegal felling of over 6,000 trees in Pakhro Range of Corbett National Park.
The ED team in two vehicles that came from Dehradun camped at Kishan Chand’s house at around 7 a.m.
It also was stated that the raids were not only related to the illegal felling in Pakhro but also to acquisition of assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. It may be recalled that Kishan Chand in the past was not only suspended just before his retirement but also arrested. After that, the Vigilance Department had registered a case against Kishan Chand for acquiring assets hundreds of times disproportionate to his income. Since then, it was anticipated that more action would be taken against him. Earlier, too, action was taken against Kishan Chand under the money laundering law. His school and stone crusher plant along with land and buildings located in Haridwar and Roorkee were also attached under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Then ED had stated that Kishan Chand’s immovable properties worth Rs 31.88 crores have been attached under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002 in the disproportionate assets case. These properties are registered in the name of Kishan Chand or his family. It may be recalled that, during his posting in Kalagarh Range, there are serious allegations against Chand of carrying out illegal construction work in Moraghatti and Pakhro along with felling of green trees and misuse of government funds and making payments to contractors by making fake bills.
