By ARUN PRATAP SINGH
DEHRADUN, 23 Jan: Prominent Congress leader Harak Singh Rawat’s legal troubles are only increasing by the day. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached his property located in Shankarpur village in Sahaspur Block of Panchhwa Doon where Rawat’s son and daughter-in-law run an Ayurvedic Medical College. It is learnt that the ED has attached approximately 101 bighas of land located in Sahaspur. This development has created a stir in the Congress circles. The party leaders have termed the ED action as political vendetta.
The Enforcement Directorate has itself shared the information regarding its action on its social media accounts. According to the ED, the action of attachment of the property registered in the name of Deepti Rawat, wife of Harak Singh Rawat has been taken under the relevant provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002. The immovable property in the form of about 101 bighas of land located in Dehradun district, has been provisionally attached in the case of Virendra Singh Kandari and others. The ED has also stated that though the registered value of the land in question has been claimed by the Rawat family to be Rs 6.56 crore, its market value is estimated to be more than Rs 70 crore.
It may be recalled that this is the same land for which Harak Singh Rawat had faced trouble in the past too, although he received relief from the court after an investigation. During the regime of then then Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, an attempt was made to tighten the noose over Harak Singh Rawat regarding this land, but the investigating agencies could not take any significant action It was then alleged that Rawat had acquired this property using fake documents. However, Rawat was granted relief by the court when he approached the court alleging that he was implicated with political malice in the case and received relief from the court. Later, a committee was formed in the Harish Rawat government to investigate the matter, but no further action was taken.
The land purchased by Harak Singh‘s wife Deepti Rawat is now part of the Doon Institute of Medical Science (DIMS). This institute is operated under the Purna Devi Memorial Trust run by Rawat family. The ED claimed that despite the court’s clear order to cancel the sale of the lands, the late Sushila Rani had registered two powers of attorney (POA) in the name of Kandari and Narendra Kumar Walia (for these lands) in conspiracy with other persons.
The ED has claimed that Kandari had sold these lands to Rawat’s wife Deepti Rawat and Laxmi Rana for a nominal amount using the ‘Power of Attorney’. The value shown in the Power of Attorney was much lower than the circle rates fixed by the government revenue authority. It further alleges that Deepti Rawat and Laxmi Rana got the said land registered in their name as part of a conspiracy hatched by Virendra Singh Kandari, Harak Singh Rawat, late Sushila Rani and others.
