New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has summoned former Uttarakhand Chief Minister and senior Congress leader in connection with a case of bribery and horse trading.
CBI sleuths called on five-time member of Parliament Rawat at Dehradun’s Jolly Grant Hospital, where he is undergoing treatment following a minor car accident earlier this week, and handed over the summons to the former CM.
The Congress leader took a dig at CBI in a Facebook post.
“Today, at Jolly Grant Hospital, a significant organisation also arrived to inquire about my health. Friends from CBI came and served me a notice, which was quite surprising. I remarked that on the day when people come to the hospital to inquire about one’s well-being, the CBI must have thought that something more critical was endangering the integrity, unity, security and democracy of the country. That’s why they served me a notice right at the hospital. Bravo, CBI!!” Rawat wrote along with sharing images of his meeting with CBI officials.
Rawat, along with former minister Harak Singh Rawat and Samachar Plus news channel CEO Umesh Kumar, was booked by CBI in 2019 for alleged involvement in horse-trading.
Rawat, then chief minister of Uttarakhand, was purportedly seen in a video negotiating a deal to buy support of MLAs who had switched to BJP. The video surfaced following a sting operation conducted by a TV channel in 2016.
Rawat’s government collapsed in Uttarakhand in 2017, following which the new state government and high court ordered a CBI probe into the matter.
Rawat, who served as Uttarakhand CM from 2014 to 2017, has already been questioned by CBI once before.
