On Tuesday, the Uttarakhand High Court directed that a CBI inquiry be conducted into allegations that money had been deposited into the bank account of a couple related to Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat for the latter's benefit, in the wake of demonetisation. The CBI has been directed to register an FIR against the Chief Minister.
Umesh Sharma, a journalist, had filed a petition in the court, seeking quashing of an FIR lodged against him for a social media post, in which he had claimed that one Amritesh Chauhan from Jharkhand had deposited the aforementioned money. Bank statements were also attached with the post in support of the allegations. However, Harendra Singh Rawat had filed a case against Sharma, accusing him of blackmail. He claimed that the allegations were false and baseless and that Sharma had forged the bank statements.
After the hearing, the High Court had quashed the FIR against Sharma and issued directions for a CBI probe. "The allegations as levelled in the instant FIR do not make out any prima-facie case against the petitioners," Justice Ravindra Maithani had said in his judgement and quashed the FIR registered against the journalist duo.
Following the news, the Congress had announced their intention to "gherao" the Chief Minister's residence. State in-charge of Congress Devendra Yadav called the allegation against Chief Minister "a serious matter" and said that the party was going to meet the Governor.
"Many skeletons seem to be falling from @tsrawatbjp cupboard! The corruption charges against him are very serious in nature. It is his moral duty to resign and step down from his post," Yadav tweeted on Wednesday.
The news has also garnered a reaction from Rawat's own party with BJP Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy. "Uttarakhand High Court has directed the registering an FIR against the UK CM on allegation of corruption? Third eye opening?" he tweeted on Wednesday morning.
In the meantime, Darshan Singh Rawat, the media coordinator of the Chief Minister has reportedly, said that the state government will move the Supreme Court with a Special Leave Petition challenging the order.
(To download our E-paper please click here. The publishers permit sharing of the paper's PDF on WhatsApp and other social media platforms.)
