ED (Enforcement Directorate) has taken major action against Congress leader and Forest Minister in BJP’s Trivendra government Harak Singh Rawat. ED has attached about 101 bighas of land worth Rs 70 crore of Harak Singh Rawat in Sahaspur area.
This land was purchased in the name of Harak Singh Rawat’s wife Deepti Rawat and his close aide Laxmi Rana. On which Doon Institute of Medical Science was built under the Smt. Purna Devi Memorial Trust. This institute is run by Harak Singh Rawat’s son Tushit Rawat.
Illegal felling and construction of thousands of trees
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had intensified the investigation from December 2024 itself in the case of illegal felling and construction of thousands of trees in the name of Tiger Safari in the Pakharo range of Corbett Tiger Reserve as well as land fraud. In the case, ED had questioned Harak Singh’s son Tushit after Harak’s wife Deepti Rawat and her close friend Rudraprayag’s former District Panchayat President Laxmi Rana. ED investigation had found that former Forest Minister Harak Singh Rawat’s close associates Birendra Singh Kandhari and Narendra Kumar Walia registered 02 Powers of Attorney of a land in a criminal conspiracy with Harak Singh Rawat. However, the court had canceled the sale deeds of the concerned land. Despite this, the land was shown to be sold illegally to Harak Singh Rawat’s wife Deepti Rawat and her close friend Laxmi Rana. On which land Doon Institute of Medical Science was also constructed under the Smt. Purna Devi Memorial Trust. In the previous interrogation, ED officials came to know many such things, which were considered part of money laundering. This is the reason why now ED officials have taken a big step to attach the land of Sahaspur related to Harak Singh Rawat. ED raided 17 places in February 2024
ED started raids at 17 places in Uttarakhand, Haryana and Delhi in February 2024 in connection with Corbett Safari and land fraud. 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 the residence of close officials associated with him, senior IFS officer of Uttarakhand Sushant Patnaik and retired Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Kishan Chand in Haridwar, who is accused of tree cutting. Along with this, 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 were also investigated. Apart from this, Harak Singh Rawat’s ancestral residence in Gahad located in Srikot in Srinagar Garhwal and other hideouts of his close ones 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 several bank lockers, digital devices have been seized in the action and a large number of documents of immovable property have been seized. After this, ED has been summoning Harak Singh Rawat, his wife Deepti Rawat, daughter-in-law Anukriti Gusain, Lakshmi Rana, son Tushit and others. A look at the tree felling case in Corbett In the Corbett Safari case, the CBI registered a case in October 2023, while the ED entered in December 2023. In February 2024, ED has also raided the hideouts of former minister Harak Singh Rawat, his close ones and many forest officials. The case of illegal felling of trees for the tiger safari in Pakharo range came to light when the National Tiger Conservation Authority conducted a field investigation of the complaint received in this regard. Also, finding the complaint to be true, action was recommended against the responsible officers. Many agencies have investigated this case so far. It has come to light that along with felling more trees than approved for the safari, construction was carried out on a large scale without financial and administrative approval.
