picture credits: indianexpress.com
Uttarakhand high court on Tuesday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to register a case and probe into allegations of corruption levelled against the State's Chief Minister, TS Rawat. According to allegations in the petition, one Jharkhand-based AS Chauhan had claimed that he knew TS Rawat (present chief minister of Uttarakhand) who was the state in-charge of BJP of Jharkhand had in 2016 struck a deal worth Rs 25 lakh with Rawat (CM) for his appointment as chairman Jharkhand Gau Sewa Aayog.
While doing so, the Court allowed a plea filed by journalist Umesh Sharma to quash an FIR filed against him this year for publishing a video containing these allegations (Umesh Kumar Sharma v. State of Uttarakhand and anr). According to High court order, on June 24, 2020, Umesh Kumar uploaded a video on social media, showing documents with certain bank accounts belonging to Dr Harender Singh Rawat and his wife Savita Rawat, claiming that the above mentioned amount was alleged to have been deposited into various bank accounts, including theirs. In his June 2020 video, Sharma asserted that Savita Rawat was Trivendra Singh's sister, making Dr Harender Singh Rawat his brother-in-law.
The court gave its decision observing the nature of the allegations. It was of the view that, “it would be appropriate to unfold the truth and would be in the interest of the State that the doubts are cleared.”