Police seek CBI, Delhi files on earlier cases against Rawat.
Rawat denies allegations, calls them BJP conspiracy before polls.
Complainant seeks fresh DNA test; Assam CM backs her.
Uttarakhand Police have asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Delhi Police for records of two earlier cases, as they begin examining a fresh rape complaint against senior Congress leader Harak Singh Rawat.
The complainant, a 39-year-old woman from Assam, submitted the complaint on November 5 as she is seeking a new DNA test to establish paternity and secure legal rights for her 23-year-old son.
Two earlier cases, both closed
The woman first accused Rawat in 2003, alleging he had fathered her child. The allegation forced him to resign as a minister in Uttarakhand. However, the CBI filed a closure report clearing him after a DNA test turned negative. In 2016, she filed another rape case against him in Delhi, which Delhi Police later closed with a final report, saying the charges were unfounded, according to Rawat.
Police has now opened an inquiry and have appointed officer Vandana Verma to lead it. Verma said investigators will first gather material from both earlier probes and then record the complainant’s statement. “It may take some time as we need to connect the dots,” HT quoted her as saying.
Rawat alleges political conspiracy
Meanwhile, Rawat rejected the complaint as a political conspiracy by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the assembly elections. He alleged it was meant to divert attention from the 2022 murder of a receptionist in Pauri Garhwal, and from the backlash over Dushyant Gautam’s appointment as Sikkim Governor.
The Pauri Garhwal murder case
The murder case has drawn fresh scrutiny. The victim, a 19-year-old receptionist at the Vanantra Resort near Rishikesh, was killed in September 2022. In May 2025, a trial court sentenced resort owner Pulkit Arya, the son of former BJP leader Vinod Arya, and staff members Saurabh Bhaskar and Ankit Gupta to life imprisonment. The case got momentum when her parents later sought an investigation into the alleged involvement of a “VIP.”
Actor Urmila Sanawar then released a purported phone recording that linked Gautam, then the BJP’s Uttarakhand in-charge, to the case. The state government ordered a CBI probe in January. The outrage intensified when the victim’s parents protested in New Delhi following the appointment of Gautam as governor, demanding that it be cancelled.
Rawat offers court-monitored DNA test
Speaking on Monday, Rawat urged the BJP to ensure the CBI completes that probe. He said he distrusts agencies such as the CBI under the current regime and fears a “fake DNA test,” but would readily undergo one monitored by a court. “If even a single allegation is proven against me, I will retire from politics,” he said.
He also cited hospital records that, he claimed, name another man as the father of the woman’s son. “If I turn out to be innocent, who will be held responsible?” he asked.
Meanwhile, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma met the complainant this week and extended his support.
