Supreme Court stays High Court order to start CBI probe against CM TS Rawat

The Supreme Court has put on hold the order of the High Court to start a CBI investigation into corruption allegations against Chief Minister TS Rawat.

“The High Court exercised its suo motu powers when there was no issue raised by the petitioner. The Chief Minister was not a party and such a drastic order has been passed and everyone was taken by surprise by the order," the top court said.

The High Court verdict came on October 27 in response to two petitions filed by journalists Umesh Sharma and Shiv Prasad Semwal.

The journalists had sought the cancellation of a First Information Report lodged against them in July. The case was filed after one of the journalists, Umesh Sharma, alleged in social media post that a man from Jharkhand had deposited money into the bank account of a couple related to Chief Minister after demonetisation.

While cancelling the FIR against the journalists, the high court ordered a CBI probe into the allegations levelled against Chief Minister Rawat.