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Former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat has been served a CBI notice, asking him to appear before a CBI court on July 4 to give a voice sample in connection with a 2016 sting operation.
A CBI team visited Rawat’s Dehradun residence on Thursday morning when the Congress leader was out to meet people on Eid al-Adha. He later contacted the CBI team and assured it of his full cooperation in the matter.
“Friends, regarding the notice of CBI, I told you that I will cooperate fully. Because as the investigation progresses, arguments will come at different levels of the court, then the allegations against us and the way the BJP has propagated those allegations, have created an illusion. It is in the interest of my public life that those things, the whole situation should be clear in front of the people of Uttarakhand and the country. But the CBI is in such a hurry that this morning when I went to congratulate some friends on Eid, they came to my house with a notice. Then I have decided that I myself invite them to come and if they want, serve me the notice today on 29th June itself,” said Rawat in a Facebook post.
The sting video in question surfaced in 2016 in the wake of nine Congress MLAs, including Vijay Bahuguna, revolting against the then Chief Minister Rawat, causing the BJP-led Centre to dislodge the Congress government and put the state under the President’s Rule and the Assembly under suspended animation.
While Rawat managed to return to power after winning the floor test later that summer, the rebellion impacted the party’s performance in the next Assembly polls. The Congress won only 11 seats in the 2017 elections, while the BJP, riding the Narendra Modi wave, stormed to power bagging 57 seats.
The sting video purportedly showed Rawat discussing a pay-off with rebel Congress MLA Harak Singh Rawat in lieu of the support of rebel Congress MLAs. The video was shot by then 38-year-old Umesh Kumar, CEO and editor-in-chief of a Noida-based TV channel Samachar Plus.
Later another sting video emerged, allegedly showing Congress MLA Madan Singh Bisht saying he had convinced former chief minister Harish Rawat to pay lakhs of rupees to Congress MLAs.
Rawat had then called the “sting operation” fabricated and said he would ask the Governor to order an inquiry into Kumar’s assets. Kumar is now an Independent MLA from the Khanpur constituency in Uttarakhand.
In an FIR on October 23, 2019, the CBI booked Rawat, Harak Singh and Kumar. The CBI has charged the trio under IPC sections pertaining to criminal conspiracy and bribery and under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
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