After former Forest Minister Harak Singh Rawat’s wife Dipti Rawat and close aide Laxmi Rana faced sharp questions from ED (Enforcement Directorate), Harak’s son Tushit Rawat had to face similar questions. ED had also summoned Tushit. He appeared before ED officials on Friday. Where he was questioned for about eight hours. After this stance of ED, it seems that the officials have intensified the investigation in the case of land fraud related to Harak Singh and illegal cutting of trees in Corbett Tiger Reserve. Or it can be said that ED has started taking the case to its conclusion.
Registered two powers of attorney for one land
According to ED sources, Birendra Singh Kandhari and Narendra Kumar Walia, close aides of former Forest Minister Harak Singh Rawat, registered two powers of attorney for one land in a criminal conspiracy with Harak Singh Rawat. However, the court had cancelled the sale deed of the concerned land. Despite this, the land was shown to be sold illegally to Harak Singh Rawat’s wife Dipti Rawat and her close friend Lakshmi Rana. The land on which Doon Institute of Medical Science was built under the Smt. Poorna Devi Memorial Trust. This institute is run by Tushit Rawat. ED had also started investigation on this case of land fraud along with the Corbett Tiger Safari scam related to Harak Singh Rawat. It is believed that ED has got important documents in the land purchase case. Therefore, many questions were asked to Tushit in this case. On this basis, ED officers are busy confirming the allegations of money laundering. In February 2024, ED started simultaneous raids in both the cases at 17 locations in Uttarakhand, Haryana and Delhi. In which 17 teams of ED had investigated the residence of former minister Harak Singh Rawat at Defense Colony in Dehradun, his son’s Doon Institute of Medical Sciences at Shankarpur in Sahaspur, as well as his close officials, senior IFS officer of Uttarakhand Sushant Patnaik and the Haridwar residence of retired Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Kishan Chand, accused in tree cutting. Along with this, investigation was also conducted at the residence of Harak Singh Rawat’s personal secretary Birendra Kandhari in Doon, his close aide Narendra Walia’s apartment in Ganganagar in Rishikesh, Lakshmi Rana’s Amravati petrol pump at Chhidarwala on Haridwar Road, BJP district minister Amit Singh’s residence at Potato Farm in Kashipur. Apart from this, Harak Singh Rawat’s ancestral residence at Gahad in Srikot in Srinagar Garhwal and other places of his close aides were covered.
In the raid, ED has seized Rs 1.10 crore, 1.3 kg gold worth Rs 80 lakh, foreign currency worth Rs 10 lakh. It has also been mentioned that in the action, several bank lockers, digital devices have been seized and a large number of documents of immovable property have been confiscated. After this, ED has been summoning Harak Singh Rawat, his wife Deepti Rawat, daughter-in-law Anukriti Gusain, Lakshmi Rana and others by sending summons whenever required.
