Supreme Court issues notice in fresh plea against Uttarakhand High Court order directing CBI probe against CM TS Rawat

The Supreme Court today issued notice in a fresh petition seeking a stay on the October 27 Uttarakhand High Court judgment ordering a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe against Chief Minister TS Rawat..The order passed by Justice Ravindra Maithani of the High Court had also quashed the FIR filed against investigative journalist Umesh Kumar Sharma..On the last date of hearing, the Court had granted a stay on the part of the order calling for the CBI probe against the CM..[Breaking] CM not a party and such a drastic order was passed: Supreme Court stays Uttarakhand HC direction to register FIR against CM TS Rawat.Appearing for the State today, Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi argued that the order needed to be stayed in its entirety..Rohatgi urged the Apex Court to allow the State to investigate the case and issue notice."I make a statement that we will not arrest Umesh Kumar Sharma", he said..However, the Court observed that it cannot revive a quashed FIR unless the order is set aside..The matter will now be heard after four weeks..On October 29, the Bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and MR Shah had stayed paragraphs 155.6, 155.7, and 155.8 of the High Court judgment passed on October 27..Appearing for Chief Minister Rawat, Attorney General KK Venugopal had then stated that the High Court had erred in ordering a CBI probe against the CM, who was not a party to the case.."The CM was not a party in this case and the High Court ordered a CBI probe. This is against Supreme Court verdicts which disallow destabilizing the government, as such verdicts demand resignation of the CM, which is happening", the AG had argued..Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the journalist who levelled the allegations against the CM, stated that the matter is serious as there are WhatsApp messages and bank accounts linked to the allegations against Rawat..The October 27 order of the High Court states,"This Court is of the view that considering the nature of allegations levelled against Trivendra Singh Rawat, the Chief Minister of the State, it would be appropriate to unfold the truth. It would be in the interest of the State that the doubts are cleared. Therefore, while allowing the petition, this Court proposes for investigation also.".Criticizing government can never be sedition: Uttarakhand High Court calls for CBI probe into corruption allegations against CM TS Rawat.In a video released in June this year, Sharma had alleged that an amount of Rs 25 lakh was paid as bribe to Chief Minister TS Rawat by one Amratesh Singh Chauhan for his appointment as Chairman of the Gau Seva Ayog, Jharkhand. Rawat was the BJP's State in-charge of Jharkhand at the time, circa 2016..This amount was alleged to have been deposited into various bank accounts, including those of Dr Harender Singh Rawat and his wife Savita Rawat. In his June 2020 video, Sharma asserted that Savita Rawat was Trivendra Singh's sister, making Dr Harender Singh Rawat his brother-in-law..The FIR listed various offences against Umesh Sharma for making corruption allegations tying Dr HS Rawat and Savita Rawat to Chief Minister TS Rawat in his video. Sharma was accused of cheating, forgery, conspiracy and allied offences..Finding that none of these offences are prima facie made out against Sharma, the High Court quashed this FIR..In the course of its judgment, the Court also opined that there appeared to be malafide intent motivating the case, given the speed at which it was filed against Sharma "coupled with the facts that the allegations levelled in the FIR were within the notice of the State as well as the informant much earlier in the year 2019."