Harish Rawat Steps Down From Congress Posts After ED Raids on Aide

Former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat announced on Friday that he is stepping down from two organisational positions in the Congress, days after the Enforcement Directorate searched the residence of his personal assistant in connection with a money laundering probe.

Rawat said he was giving up his place on the Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee executive and his status as a permanent invitee to the Congress Working Committee. With no government post to relinquish, he framed the move as a personal decision aimed at keeping a controversy surrounding a close associate from denting the party's campaign against corruption.

What the searches turned up

The ED said it carried out searches at several locations in Dehradun on Thursday, covering premises linked to former officials of the Uttarakhand Subordinate Service Selection Commission, the owner of a private computer agency that processed OMR sheets, and alleged middlemen.

At the home of Chandan Singh Jeena, Rawat's personal assistant, the agency said it seized Rs 32 lakh in unaccounted cash, gold coins and chains weighing about 200.5 grams — 13 coins and seven chains — and 12 luxury watches. The watches included brands such as Rolex, Rado, Piaget, Movado, Tissot and Casio Edifice.

Bank accounts belonging to Jeena and his family, holding Rs 52.16 lakh, were frozen, and his mobile phone was taken for forensic examination. The ED alleged that Jeena had made substantial cash expenditures for which no legitimate source of income could be established, and said unaccounted cash, jewellery and valuables were also recovered from some former UKSSSC officials and others connected to them.

Jeena has served as Rawat's officer on special duty and is currently his personal assistant. He held the OSD role during Rawat's tenure as chief minister from 2014 to 2017.

The case behind the raids

The money laundering investigation follows four FIRs filed by the Uttarakhand Police and the state Vigilance Bureau over alleged irregularities in the Gram Panchayat Vikas Adhikari examination conducted by the UKSSSC in 2016.

According to the agency, OMR answer sheets were removed from secure custody and taken to the residence of the commission's then secretary. There, roll numbers on under-filled sheets were allegedly noted and passed to staff at a private computer agency, who are accused of filling and altering answer bubbles before the sheets were resealed. Payments for the alleged tampering were routed through middlemen, the ED said.

Rawat's response

In a long post on X, Rawat acknowledged his ties to Jeena but said he found the allegations hard to accept. He described Jeena as a decent, humble and hardworking person and said the truth would come out in the coming days.

Rawat said that if there were evidence Jeena had tampered with OMR sheets in the recruitment examination, he would be ashamed of such conduct — while adding that he did not believe the allegation.

Explaining his resignation, Rawat said Uttarakhand politics was moving into an election phase and that attempts were being made to build a narrative against him. He said the Congress and its workers were fighting corruption, and that Rahul Gandhi was raising the issue of corruption in the education system through his 'Chhatron Ki Goonj' campaign. If any action linked to him were to weaken that fight, he said, he would not want it, and so he had taken the decision to step down.