ED summons Congress leader Harak Singh Rawat, daughter-in-law in money laundering case

on Friday summoned Congress leader and former Uttarakhand minister Harak Singh Rawat and his daughter-in-law for questioning in connection with a money laundering investigation, PTI reported citing official sources.

“Rawat has been asked to depose before the central agency here on February 29 and his daughter-in-law Anukriti on March 7," the sources told PTI.

Earlier, the agency had raided the premises of Rawat and others on February 7 and it seized Indian and foreign currency notes worth about ₹1.20 crore, gold and "voluminous" documents during these searches.

However, an official statement issued by the federal agency a day later did not specify what was recovered from where.

ED is investigating Birendra Singh Kandari, who is described as a “close associate" of Rawat, along with Indian Forest Service (IFoS) officer and former DFO Kishan Chand, and former forest range officer Brij Bihari Sharma.

PTI reported, Rawat, aged 63, is a former forest minister of the state, who left the BJP before the 2022 Uttarakhand assembly elections to join the Congress party. The ED's probe into these individuals is linked to two separate FIRs filed in the state.

One of the FIRs was registered by the Uttarakhand Police against Kandari and others.

Kandari and Narendra Kumar Walia hatched a "criminal conspiracy" with Rawat and registered two powers of attorney for land, for which a court had cancelled the sale deed, the agency alleged.

They illegally sold this land to Rawat's wife Deepti Rawat and one Laxmi Singh, on which the Doon Institute of Medical Science, Dehradun was constructed under Shrimati Poorna Devi Memorial Trust, it said.

The second FIR was registered by the vigilance department of the state government against Sharma, Chand