SC Stays Uttarakhand HC Order Directing CBI Probe Against CM Rawat

The Uttarakhand High Court had asked CBI to file an FIR against the CM on corruption allegations.

Trivendra Singh Rawat.

(Photo Courtesy: Facebook/Trivendra Singh Rawat)

The Supreme Court on Thursday, 29 October, stayed the order of the Uttarakhand High Court directing a CBI probe against state Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat.

The Uttarakhand High Court had asked the investigative agency to file an FIR against Rawat and examine corruption allegations leveled by a journalist Umesh Sharma.

The journalist had accused the CM of indirectly receiving alleged bribe of Rs 25 lakh in 2016 when Rawat was the BJP’s in-charge of Jharkhand.

Appearing for Rawat, the Attorney General KK Venugopal told the court that an FIR can't be lodged without hearing the party, which is the CM, and this will unsettle the elected government, reported PTI.

The three-judge bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan said, “Can such an order be passed in a petition where neither any specific prayer for probe is made nor the state or CM is made a party. All of a sudden everybody is taken by surprise.”  

Staying the operative portion of the 27 October high court order directing the CBI probe, the apex court asked the opposite parties to file response in four weeks.

(With inputs from PTI and LiveLaw.)