Uttarakhand: CBI Court Asks Harish Rawat, Three Others to Give Voice Samples

A special CBI court has ordered four leaders, including the former Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Harish Rawat, to give samples of their votes in the 2016 ‘Operation Sting’ case.

Special Judge Dharmendra Adhikari on Monday ordered senior Congress leader Rawat, former state minister Harak Singh Rawat, and Congress MLA from Madan Bisht’s Duarhat along with Umesh Sharma, the journalist who carried out the alleged sting operation and now the MLA from Khanpur, to give their voice samples.

The CBI will issue separate notices to these leaders as to when and where their vote samples will be taken.

Earlier, during the hearing of the case on July 15, lawyers for all the leaders except Umesh Sharma questioned the pursuit of audio samples by the CBI on the grounds that the petition related to the case is pending in the Uttarakhand High Court, which is likely to pass its judgment in July 27th.

The sting operation came to the fore in 2016 after 10 Congress MLAs rebelled against the government led by Harish Rawat and teamed up with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The CBI sought permission from the court to match the sounds heard in this sting.

In the video, it was alleged that Rawat was haggling with dissident MLAs to save his government.

At that time, chief rule was imposed in the state after Congress MLAs revolted. However, the Rawat government was reinstated after it gained a majority in a floor test conducted on the directive of the Supreme Court, but the rebels were disenfranchised in it.

(This story was not edited by the News18 staff and was published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)