The CBI on Wednesday booked former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat, his then Cabinet colleague Harak Singh Rawat (now in the Cabinet headed by current CM Trivendra Singh Rawat) and CEO of Noida-based television news channel Samachar Plus, Umesh Kumar and unknown others for alleged attempts of horse trading and threatening dissident Congress MLAs in 2016. The alleged bribery bid was caught on tape by Kumar through his mobile phone.
The FIR follows a Preliminary Enquiry registered by the agency on April 25, 2016 when the then Government under President's Rule referred the horse trading allegations for a CBI probe.
The agency had sent the video of the conversation between the accused persons on March 23, 2016 to the Forensic Science Laboratory(FSL), Gandhinagar in Gujarat for examination. The FSL opined that there is no addition/deletion/insertion/tampering/morphing in the video files indicating that the recordings are genuine.
The video purportedly showed the Congress leader discussing money and office positions in the Government to win back the support of disgruntled MLAs who had crossed over to the BJP so that he could get back to power. The editor of the news channel had allegedly arranged a meeting with Harish Rawat in the VIP lounge of Dehradun Airport on March 23, 2016 and recorded the conversation between him and Harish Rawaat by using his mobile phone. Kumar met Harish Rawat to convey the demands of Harak Singh Rawat including the post of Deputy CM, two departments and cash.
Recently, the Uttarakhand High Court allowed the CBI to go ahead with it’s investigation in the case and lodge an FIR against Rawat after the agency submitted a report in a sealed cover on the findings of the Preliminary Enquiry(PE).
The CBI has slapped Indian Penal Code section relating to criminal conspiracy and relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act including bribery.
During the PE, the CBI had questioned Harish Rawat and Umesh Kumar.
The PE revealed that after passing of the Finance Bill on March 18, 2016 in the Uttarakhand Assembly, dissident MLAs of the Congress along with members from BJP left Dehradun by a chartered flight and shifted to Gurgaon. Umesh Kumar met Harak Singh Rawat, one of the dissdent MLAs. “During this meeting, they entered into a criminal conspiracy for the purpose of demanding gratification from Harish Rawat in lieu of his support to the Congress Government. In pursuance of the criminal conspiracy, Harak Singh Rawat asked Umesh Kumar to meet Harish Rawat, then Chief Minister, Uttarakhand and convey his demand for the post of Deputy CM, two departments and cash,” reads the complaint filed by Deputy SP of CBI RL Yadav on October 1 this year. The complaint is now part of the FIR.
