Congress reiterates demand for Uttarakhand CM Trivendra Singh Rawat's resignation
Oct 31, 2020
Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], October 31 : Congress general secretary Harish Rawat on Friday said that Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat should resign on moral grounds even after Supreme Court's stay order on Nainital High Court's order for CBI probe against him on the basis of allegations against him.
Earlier on October 29, Supreme Court stayed an order of the Uttarakhand High Court directing the Central Bureau of Investigation to register an FIR against Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on the basis of allegations levelled against him.
A bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan, issued notice to the CBI and two journalists, FIR against whom was quashed by the High Court returnable within four weeks.
Attorney General KK Venugopal, appearing for the Trivendra Singh Rawat, submitted that the Chief Minister was not a party to this case even and the Uttarakhand High Court's single-judge bench had ordered a CBI probe without hearing his side.
The Uttarakhand government had approached the Supreme Court against the High Court's order, which quashed a First Information Report registered against two journalists for cheating and forgery, and directed the CBI to register an FIR against Rawat.
Allegations were reportedly levelled against Rawat by a Jharkhand-resident identified as AS Chauhan, who claimed that he had in 2016 struck a deal with Rawat, who was the state in-charge of Jharkhand BJP at the time, worth Rs 25 lakh for his appointment as chairman Jharkhand Gau Sewa Aayog.
The Uttarakhand High Court had on Tuesday quashed the FIR registered by the state government against two journalists -- Umesh Sharma and Shiv Prasad Semwal -- for cheating, forgery, and several other sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
