Harak Singh Rawat is a former Forest Minister of Uttarakhand. (File)
Dehradun:
The Uttarakhand Vigilance Team on Wednesday raided an institute in Dehradun’s Shankarpur and a petrol pump in Chhiddarwala. State Vigilance Chief V Murugesan said that after the team examined the documents at both places, it was found that both the properties belong to Congress leader and former Forest Minister Harak Singh Rawat.
Speaking to ANI, Mr Murugesan said that the vigilance team found that two generator sets installed at the two private places were bought using government funds. Further probe into the matter is underway, the vigilance chief said.
Mr Murugesan confirmed that both Doon Institute of Medical Sciences in Shankarpur and the petrol pump which were raided by the team on Wednesday, belong to Mr Rawat’s son.
On being asked whether the former minister had any connection with the misuse of government funds, the vigilance chief did not confirm anything and said that the investigation into the case is underway and all the details related to the matter will be revealed after the investigation process is over.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami ordered the latest vigilance operation against the properties of Mr Rawat.
Notably, during Mr Rawat’s tenure as the state forest minister in the BJP government, Mr Rawat and some of his departmental officers came under serious allegations related to their involvement in illegal tree cutting and construction in the Pakhro range of Corbett Park under the Tiger Safari Project.
The Forest Survey of India (FSI) claimed in its report that more than 6,000 trees were cut illegally in the Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR) against the permission of 163 for the Pakhru tiger safari.
However, the state forest department refuted the FSI’s claims and said there were some technical issues that needed to be resolved before finally accepting the report.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
