Former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat on Saturday offered to step down from two Congress posts, a day after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided his personal assistant, Chandan Singh Jeena, in a money laundering probe linked to alleged irregularities in a 2016 state recruitment exam and recovered cash, gold and luxury watches.
The Congress leader said he wished to step down as a member of the Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee and as a permanent invitee to the Congress Working Committee at the national level, as he did not want any action or conduct on his part to weaken the party’s ongoing fight.
“Therefore, after remembering my Isht Devta, I have taken a major decision. I am not holding any government post, so there is no question of resigning from one. However, I am a member of the Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee executive and a permanent invitee to the Congress Working Committee at the national level. I would like to respectfully step down from both these positions, because I do not want the party’s struggle to be weakened in any way because of me,” Rawat said on his X account.
Deep Dive
What prompted Harish Rawat to offer to step down from his Congress positions?
Why does Harish Rawat believe he should resign from his positions within the Congress?
What allegations have been made against Chandan Singh Jeena, Rawat's personal assistant?
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{{/usCountry}}“Congress Party membership is in my blood and bones; it shapes everything that Harish Rawat is. It will go to heaven with me,” he added.
The ED said in a statement on Friday evening that it had raided Jeena on Thursday and seized cash worth ₹32 lakh and a dozen luxury wristwatches.
Jeena is currently serving as a personal assistant (PA) to Rawat and had earlier served as officer on special duty (OSD) during the Congress leader’s tenure as chief minister from 2014-17.
The searches were carried out under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, or PMLA, at multiple locations in Dehradun, including those belonging to the former chairman, secretary and exam controller of the Uttarakhand Subordinate Service Selection Commission (UKSSSC), the owner of a private computer agency engaged in processing OMR sheets and some alleged middlemen. The agency did not name the chairman and secretary in its statement.
The ED’s probe stems from four Uttarakhand Police and Vigilance Bureau first information reports (FIRs) registered in connection with alleged irregularities in the Gram Panchayat Vikas Adhikari Exam conducted by the UKSSSC in 2016.
The OMR answer sheets were diverted from the UKSSSC’s secure custody to the private residence of its then secretary, the agency said. “At the secretary’s residence, roll numbers on under-filled OMR sheets were noted down and handed over to private computer-agency personnel to fraudulently fill and alter answer bubbles before resealing, in exchange for illegal gratification routed through middlemen,” the ED said.
It further said that during the searches at the residential premises of Jeena, unaccounted cash worth ₹32 lakh, gold coins and chains weighing about 200.5 grams, and 12 luxury wristwatches of various luxury brands such as Rolex, Rado, Piaget, Movado, Tissot and Casio Edifice were recovered.
The bank accounts of Jeena and his family members, holding funds worth ₹52.16 lakh, were frozen and his mobile phone was seized for forensic analysis, the agency added.
“During the investigation, it was found that Jeena has made huge expenses in cash also, with no explanation. The recovery, along with the cash expenses, is not substantiated with his known sources of income,” the ED alleged.
Rawat described Jeena as “a very decent, humble and hardworking person”. “If he tampered with OMR sheets during the recruitment of Gram Sevaks, and if there is evidence to prove that he committed any such wrongdoing, I am ashamed of such an alleged audacious act. However, I do not believe this allegation at all,” the former CM said.
He further added on X that the stakes in the Uttarakhand elections were very high.
“Whenever anyone used to ask me when the elections would be held, I would jokingly say that the elections would take place when the CBI knocked on my door. If it has not come yet, it means the elections will be held in March-April next year. However, this time, instead of knocking on my door, an attempt has been made to knock on the door of one of my associates and create a narrative,” Rawat said.