SC sets aside HC order of CBI probe against former Uttarakhand CM Trivendra Rawat

New Delhi [India], January 4 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Wednesday set aside the Uttarakhand High Court order directing a CBI probe into allegations of corruption against former chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat.
A bench of Justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar said the order passed by the High Court is unsustainable and in violation of the principles of natural justice.
The bench said, "The impugned directions calling for a criminal investigation against the appellant (Rawat) and the observations made are hereby quashed and set aside. It is specifically noted that the orders are set aside on the aforesaid grounds alone."
On October 27, 2020, the Uttarakhand High Court had directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to register an FIR against the then CM on the basis of the allegations levelled against him.
The apex court, while quashing the high court order, took note that the two journalists had moved the high court seeking the quashing of an FIR against them and had not sought an inquiry into the allegations of corruption that they levelled against the former CM on social media.
Rawat was the Uttarakhand chief minister between 2017 and 2021.
Challenging the high court order, the government had approached the apex court, which issued notices to the CBI and two journalists.
The top court later stayed the high court's 'drastic order' for a CBI probe into corruption allegations against Rawat, saying it was passed without hearing him and taking 'everybody by surprise'.
The corruption allegations levelled by two journalists pertained to the money transferred allegedly into the accounts of Rawat's relatives in 2016 in lieu of their support to the appointment of a person as head of 'Gau Seva Ayog' of Jharkhand when Rawat was in charge of the BJP's Jharkhand unit.
The Uttarakhand High Court had also quashed the FIR registered by the state government against the two journalists -- Umesh Sharma and Shiv Prasad Semwal -- for cheating, forgery, and several other sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The apex court, however, had not stayed the part of the High Court order by which it had quashed the FIR lodged against the two scribes.
The FIR against the journalists was filed for posting a video on Facebook alleging that one Amritesh Chauhan from Jharkhand deposited money after demonetisation into the bank account of a couple, Harendra Singh Rawat and his wife Savita Rawat, who are allegedly related to the chief minister.
Harendra, a retired professor, lodged an FIR at a police station in Dehradun against Sharma, alleging that the journalist was blackmailing him. (ANI)