Dehradun: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday began searches at 17 locations in Delhi, Uttarakhand, and Chandigarh in connection with an alleged forest scam case linked to Uttarakhand Congress leader and former minister Harak Singh Rawat.
As per sources, Rawat’s Defence Colony residence and a medical college in Dehradun are among the locations being searched by the ED teams.
The ED raid is linked to a case against Rawat over alleged felling of thousands of trees, financial irregularities, and illegal construction in the Pakhro Tiger Reserve range of Corbett National Park in 2019. The Pakhro Tiger Reserve development was Rawat’s pet project when he was the forest minister in the then BJP government. He joined the Congress ahead of the 2022 Uttarakhand Assembly polls after being dismissed from the state cabinet and the primary membership of the BJP for six years due to alleged anti-party activities.
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in October 2021 and the officials of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) in December 2021 conducted inspections following allegations of illegal construction and felling of trees in the Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR).
The inspections found irregularities in the construction of Kandi Road, houses in Morghati and Pakhro forest rest house premises, and the construction of a water body near the Pakhro forest rest house. It also found the felling of trees for the proposed tiger safari in Pakhro illegal, thus violating the Indian Forest Act 1927, Forest (Conservation) Act 1970, Wildlife (Conservation) Act 1972, and All India Services Conduct Rules.
In August 2023, teams of the Uttarakhand Vigilance Department raided a medical college and a petrol pump owned by Rawat’s son in connection to the case of alleged irregularities in the construction of Pakhro Safari in Kaulagarh Tiger Reserve of Corbett National Park.
As per sources, Vigilance seized two generators from the Doon Institute of Medical Sciences in Shankarpur and the Amravati petrol pump. It was alleged that both these generators were purchased with government money and were installed at the two establishments. During the raids, the team also scrutinised the institute’s documents and questioned the former minister as well as the employees.
Talking to the media, Rawat then claimed that a letter was written in January 2022 asking the forest department to take those generators but it had not done so.
The Uttarakhand High Court took a strict stand in the case of the felling of thousands of trees and illegal construction in Jim Corbett Park. In September 2023, while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) over the allegations, the high court handed over the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and directed the investigating agencies of Uttarakhand to cooperate with the central agency.
