Harish Rawat poorer, but Satpal’s fortune swells

Self-styled godmen wield influence in ‘Devbhumi’ Uttarakhand. It, thus, comes as no surprise that Satpal Maharaj - who is contesting as a BJP candidate from Chaubattakhal - is among the richest candidates with assets worth ?142 crore that he shares with his wife Amrita Rawat

Dehradun Updated: Jan 31, 2017 20:43 IST
Abhinav Madhwal
Hindustan Times

Satpal Maharaj shares assets worth ?142 crore with his wife Amrita Rawat.(Virendra Singh Gosain/HT PHOTO)

Self-styled godmen wield influence in ‘Devbhumi’ Uttarakhand. It, thus, comes as no surprise that Satpal Maharaj - who is contesting as a BJP candidate from Chaubattakhal - is among the richest candidates with assets worth ?142 crore that he shares with his wife Amrita Rawat.

Maharaj has shown his income for 2015-16 at ?83.89 lakh and his wife’s income at ?17.98 lakh. The couple has bank deposits worth ?6.28 crore. They have land and immoveable assets in Mumbai, Delhi, Dehradun and other cities valued ?37.32 crore, ?7.67 crore, ?64.39 crore and ?9.59 crore, respectively. The husband-wife duo own moveable assets worth ?7.97 crore and ?8.31 crore. They also own a Toyota Corolla and a Renault Duster.

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Swami Yatishwaranand, who is pitted against chief minister Harish Rawat on Haridwar Rural, has an annual income of ?3.83 lakh, He has land worth ?56 lakh. Virendra Singh Pal alias Swami Virendranand, BJP candidate on Dharchula, has an annual income of ?9.7 lakh. His land and property are worth ?1.28 crore and he owns a Toyota Fortuner.

Dr Shailendra Mohan Singhal, BJP candidate from Jaspur, own assets worth ?35 crore. BJP’s Rajesh Shukla, who is pitted against Rawat on Kichha, owns immoveable assets worth ?23 crore. Besides annual income of Rs 31.16 lakh, Shukla and his wife have ?1 crore in bank deposits and own a home worth ?1 crore.

Chief minister Harish Rawat has declared his income for year 2015-2016 at ?2.36 crore. His wife Renuka’s income is ?22.53 lakh. Bank deposits add to another ?1.69 crore. His moveable assets are worth ?1.79 crore, while his wife has ?3.52 crore.

BJP candidate from Khanpur, Kunwar Pranav Singh Champion, who claims to be a royal of the Landhora principality, showed his annual income ?8.46 lakh and bank deposits worth ?22 lakh. He has land worth ?35 lakh.

Godavari Thapli, Congress candidate on Mussoorie, has an income of ?14.69 lakh. But her husband Upendra’s income is a whopping ?1.64 crore. Godavari has land worth ? 5 crore, but she owns only a motorcycle bought in 2005 whose value is put at ?10,000.

Among the other crorepati candidates are BJP’s Yashpal Arya (Bajpur), finance minister Indira Hridyesh (Haldwani), Congress’ Ranjeet Rawat (Ramnagar) with assets worth ?4.10 crore, around ?7 crore and ?1.42 crore, respectively.

Social activist Anil Joshi said the candidates must file details of their actual assets and not hide them. “If they are hiding or not showing their assets at the time of filing of affidavits, then what can the people expect from them?” he questions.