Financial investigation agency Enforcement Directorate (ED) has raided Congress leader and former forest minister Harak Singh Rawat and several others as part of a money laundering probe in connection with the alleged forest scam .

Official sources said that raids were conducted at 16 premises in Uttarakhand, Delhi and Chandigarh starting from 5.30 am on Wednesday.

Rawat quit the BJP ahead of the 2022 Uttarakhand assembly elections and joined the Congress party. The so-called forest fraud case involves the alleged felling of thousands of trees, financial irregularities and illegal construction in the Pajero Tiger Reserve of Corbett National Park in 2019. It was also a pet project of Rawat when he was the Forest Minister of Corbett National Park. Then came the BJP government.

During Rawat’s tenure, the BJP-led government sought permission from the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change to build a tiger hunting park in Pakhro. About 106 hectares of forest land was allocated for the project in the financial year 2019-20. However, later investigations found that the number of trees cut down during the implementation of the project had significantly increased.

The matter was brought to the Nainital High Court, which heard the case in October 2021. Following this, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed an FIR in 2023, which was later taken over by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Investigations revealed that approximately 6,903 trees had been felled, far more than the 163 trees initially reported.

A preliminary investigation by the Uttarakhand forest department in collaboration with the Forest Survey of India (FSI) found irregularities in felling trees for the project. The FSI report stated that the felling of 163 trees was legally authorized, but a further 6,903 trees were felled illegally. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) took notice of the case in October 2022.

In October 2022, the NGT launched an investigation into the matter and constituted a three-member team consisting of senior officials of the Wildlife Department, Project Tiger Department and Forest Department. The seriousness of the case led to the involvement of senior officials in the investigation. Following the investigation, the committee submitted its report to the National Green Tribunal in March 2023.

The report detailed illegal activities carried out in the name of construction and implicated the responsible officials, including the then forest minister Harak Singh Rawat and eight senior officials of the forest department. Based on this report, action was taken against the officials, including suspension of ranger Brij Bihari, DFO Kishan Chand and chief wildlife warden JS Suhag.

In 2022, the Bharatiya Janata Party expelled Harak Singh Rawat from the party for six years for his alleged involvement in anti-party activities. Later, before the assembly elections, Harak Singh Rawat joined the Congress Party. In 2016, Harak Singh Rawat and ten other legislators revolted against then chief minister Harish Rawat, leading them to defect to the BJP.