Uttarakhand High Court directed the CBI to register a case and probe into the alleged graft charges against the Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat.

When Rawat was BJP state in-charge of Jharkhand in 2016, it was alleged that a person indirectly paid `25 lakh to Rawat for getting the chairman’s post of Jharkhand Gau Sewa Aayog.

The case is complicated as the allegation is on money transferred in the bank accounts of one Dr Harender Singh Rawat and his wife Savita Rawat.

Uttarakhand BJP said it would file a SLP in Supreme Court against the HC order.

The HC in its verdict on Tuesday said, “This Court is of the view that considering the nature of allegations levelled against Trivendra Singh Rawat, the Chief Minister of the State, it would be appropriate to unfold the truth. It would be in the interest of the State that the doubts are cleared. Therefore, while allowing the petition, this Court proposes for investigation also.”

The judgment provided fresh armoury to Opposition Congress and AAP and they demanded Rawat’s resignation on moral grounds. Journalist Umesh Kumar had filed the petition in the HC.

The petitioner accused that after demonetization in 2016, money was deposited in the accounts of Dr Harender Singh Rawat and his wife Savita Rawat, which was meant as a bribe for CM Rawat. Welcoming the decision of the Uttarakhand HC, Dr Harender Singh Rawat said, “On 07.07.2020, I gave an application to Director General of Police, Garhwal Region Office, Senior Superintendent of Police, Dehradun for conducting inquiry of the allegations levelled against me by the said Umesh Kumar Sharma. Upon my application, one Gazetted Officer conducted inquiry and during the inquiry, he obtained bank details of all my bank accounts and found that in any of my bank accounts, no money was deposited from Jharkhand by any person named Amratesh Chauhan.”

Information shared by Kumar on his social media account, forced Dr Harender Singh Rawat to seek a probe into the money transfer made from Jharkhand to his personal and his family’s bank accounts. Uttarakhand BJP spokesperson Munna Singh Chauhan said, “This judgment is very bad in law. What is the credibility of Umesh Kumar? Over two dozen cases are registered against him in five states-Uttarakhand, UP, Delhi, West Bengal and Jharkhand. The Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat was never made a party in the case. He was never heard. This case is strange.We will file a SLP in the Supreme Court.”