Thursday, 08 FEBRUARY 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) teams raided 17 locations in Uttarakhand, Chandigarh and Delhi on Wednesday in connection with an alleged forest scam. In Dehradun, the Defence Colony residence of former Forest minister and Congress leader Harak Singh Rawat and a medical college were raided by the ED. The homes of one serving Indian Forest Service officer and one former IFS officer Sushant Patnaik and Kishan Chand were also raided in Dehradun and Haridwar respectively. According to sources, cash counting machines were brought to count the cash reportedly found in Patnaik’s home. It is pertinent to mention here that Patnaik was recently removed from the position of member secretary in the Uttarakhand Pollution Control Board after a female employee accused him of harassment.
The ED raids on Rawat’s home and other locations are linked to a case against him regarding alleged felling of thousands of trees, financial irregularities and illegal construction in the Pakhro range of Corbett national park in 2019. On Wednesday morning when the ED team was searching Rawat’s residence, an official in his office told media persons that he came to know about the raid from media reports. He said that there is nothing incriminating for the ED to find and alleged that the action was part of political pressure tactics. It will be recalled here that the development of the Pakhro tiger safari was Rawat’s dream project when he was the Forest minister in the then BJP government. He later joined the Congress ahead of the 2022 Vidhan Sabha elections.
