ED Issues Fresh Summons to Uttarakhand Congress Leader Harak Singh Rawat

Dehradun: Congress leader and former Uttarakhand cabinet minister Harak Singh Rawat has been issued fresh summons by the Enforcement Directorate for questioning in a money laundering case investigation. The central agency has asked Rawat to depose before it on April 2. 

The ED has issued summons to Harak Singh Rawat in the case of illegal occupation of forest department land and illegal cutting of trees in Corbett National Park. Rawat, 63, is a former forest minister of the state who quit the BJP ahead of the 2022 Uttarakhand assembly polls and joined the Congress.

Harak Singh Rawat was earlier asked to depose before the central agency here on February 29 but he sought a deferment of the notice, citing some work. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided the premises of Rawat and others on February 7 in connection with the case.

His daughter-in-law and former Congress leader Anukriti Gusain was also summoned earlier by the agency in this case but she too did not depose. Gusain quit the Congress earlier this month.

The central agency earlier said it seized Indian and foreign currency worth about Rs 1.20 crore, gold and "voluminous" documents during the searches. However, an official statement issued by it did not specify what was recovered from where.

The Supreme Court recently pulled up Rawat and Kishan Chand, observing that the "public trust doctrine" was thrown into the waste bin as they allowed illegal construction and felling of trees in the Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR).