According to early reports, the ED was raiding over ten locations in Uttarakhand and the Delhi-NCR. In a money laundering case, the Enforcement Directorate raided the home of Harak Singh Rawat, the leader of the Uttarakhand Congress and a former minister, according to news agency officials. According to early reports, the ED was raiding over ten locations. The searches were reportedly conducted at several locations in Chandigarh, Delhi, and Uttarakhand, according to the media. It is believed that the ED investigation is connected to purportedly unlawful activities in the state’s Corbett Tiger Reserve.
After six years of primary membership in the Bharatiya Janata Party and dismissal from the state cabinet due to anti-party activities, Hark Singh Rawat joined the Congress in advance of the 2022 Uttarakhand gathering elections. The Uttarakhand elections were won by the BJP for the second time in a row.
Ten MLAs, including Harak Singh Rawat, defected to the BJP in 2016 after turning against senior Congressman and former chief minister Harish Rawat.
The new ED raid, meanwhile, occurred one day after the investigation team searched the homes of Bibhav Kumar, the personal assistant to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, and other people in connection with the money laundering case. Among them were Rajya Sabha MP and party treasurer ND Gupta.
The raids were carried out by the probe agency in response to allegations that bribes resulting from irregularities in the Delhi Jal Board tendering process were transferred to the AAP as election funds. The BJP responded with accusations of corruption against the Kejriwal government, while the AAP denounced the raids and charged the ED and the Center with intimidation.
According to them, the action is a component of a money laundering investigation that focused on alleged bribes obtained through anomalies in the DJB tendering process and allegedly transferred to the AAP as election funds.
Under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, twelve locations in the nation’s capital were searched by ED officers starting at seven in the morning (PMLA).
The search operation included the homes of Bibhav Kumar, Shalabh Kumar, a former member of the Democratic Party of India (DPJ), national treasure N.D. Gupta, a party Rajya Sabha member, chartered accountant Pankaj Mangal, and other members of the ruling party in Delhi.
This comes a day after leaders of the AAP, another opposition party, were raided at multiple locations by the ED. The home of AAP national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s personal assistant was raided by 23 ED officers. According to Kejriwal, the authorities searched his PA’s home for sixteen hours without discovering anything. He further asserted that raids have also taken place at the homes of prominent AAP figures, including Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain, and Sanjay Singh. Nevertheless, the national convener of the party states that the ED found Nothing even there.
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