Court seeks response from CBI, government on former Corbett NP director's petition

Nainital, Oct 11 (PTI) The Uttarakhand High Court, hearing a petition challenging the sanction for prosecution against the former Corbett National Park director, has directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the state government to file their responses by October 28.

A single bench of Justice Ashish Naithani issued these directions while hearing Rahul, an Indian Forest Service officer's petition on Friday.

During the hearing, the petitioner stated that the CBI is investigating a case of alleged illegal construction and illegal logging in the Kalagarh Tiger Reserve's Pakharo without government permission.

According to the petition, the CBI had filed a charge sheet in the case, leading to the sanction for prosecution against certain officials on September 4, 2025. However, the then director, Rahul, was not included in that charge sheet.

Subsequently, the Supreme Court reprimanded the state government for not granting sanction to prosecute Rahul, after which the state government approved the prosecution against him as well.

The petitioner argued before the high court that the sanction granted to prosecute him was not legally valid and that the state government frequently orders investigations based "solely on newspaper reports" while the investigation is still incomplete. He claimed that the allegations against him are false.

The court has fixed October 28 for the next hearing in the case. PTI DPT APL APL MPL MPL