Dehradun: With Uttarakhand agriculture minister, Harak Singh Rawat asserting that there is no need for a CBI probe into the murder of his former PRO Yudhvir Singh Rawat, and the socialite with political clout arrested for allegedly being the brain behind the murder claiming that she was arrested by the cops from the minister’s residence, tongues have started wagging and popular belief is that there is a big scam that may be blown should the central agency conduct an enquiry.
Sudha Patwal, the socialite arrested for allegedly being the brain behind the murder threw a bombshell, when she told the large number of media persons present in the SSP’s briefing regarding the case having been solved, that she was arrested by the police team from the residence of the minister. This just minutes before the SSP had told the media persons present that the socialite was not arrested from the minister’s residence but from elsewhere.
Immediately, leader of the opposition in Uttarakhand vidhan sabha, Ajay Bhatt demanded that not only should there be a CBI probe into the murder, for a large amount of money had changed hands for the admission of a student into the MBBS class of a local medical college, but that the minister should also resign on moral grounds. He said that as the accused had told the media persons that she had “political and social connections” with the minister there were reasons for suspicion.
In a letter addressed to chief minister Vijay Bahuguna, the leader of the opposition minced no words when he said that there was pressure on the state police to suppress the matter as an important minister of the state government’s name had been involved in the matter by the main accused. “Apparently the accused has said that she was arrested from the minister’s house, while the police claim she was arrested from the market, which indicates that there is pressure on the cops”, he maintained.
Meanwhile even as the police claims that the deceased had been murdered as he was demanding back the Rs 14 lakhs that he had reportedly given to the accused for admission of a student into a MBBS course in a claim medical college and she was not in a position to return it, having spent the money, popular feeling by and large is that the matter regarding admissions into the MBBS and MD courses of the medical colleges in the city needs to be probed.
By and large the people were of the view that it was not only in the management seat and NRI quota that there was backdoor entry into the medical colleges, but it was alleged that even the entrance test results were being fudged so that some special cases could get into the merit list. “There is a whole scam in the admission business, which has more or less been exposed in the murder and in the interest of justice and meritorious students, there is a pressing need to go into the matter”, said a doctor on conditions of anonymity.
However, agriculture minister Harak Singh Rawat denied that the accused had been arrested from his house, saying that a guilty person could make any statement, which should be taken with a ;inch of salt and not on its face value. “As far a CBI probe is concerned, the police have solved the case by arresting the accused and as such there is no need for any other agency to probe into the matter”, he added.
A journalist with over 40 years of experience, Jagdish Bhatt was Editor, Hill Post (Uttarakhand).
Jagdish had worked with India’s leading English dailies, which include Times of India, Indian Express, Pioneer and several other reputed publications. A highly acclaimed journalist, he was a recipient of many awards
Jagdish Bhatt, aged 72, breathed his last on 28th August 2021 at his Dehradun residence.
