Dehradun (Uttarakhand): In the 2016 Uttarakhand sting operation case, former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat was asked to appear before a CBI court on July 4 to give his voice sample. Besides, Harish Rawat, former Cabinet minister Harak Singh Rawat and two others were also asked to appear before the CBI court on July 4.
Sleuths from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) visited Harish Rawat's residence on Thursday morning to serve notice on him. But, he was not present in the house. The notice was served on him later in the day. Rawat had informed the CBI, both over the phone and through a social media post, that he had returned home.
Reacting to the CBI notice, the Congress leader said, "We and our party had already suffered damages." The "conspiratorial sting operation inflicted damages on us" in 2016-17. "However, I am ready for any kind of persecution in the hope that the law will one day stand by us and truth will prevail," he said, adding, he will fight the battle in the CBI court and beyond.
The sting video in question surfaced in 2016 in the wake of nine Congress MLAs revolting against Rawat, the then Chief Minister, and joining hands with the BJP, virtually reducing his government to a minority. These MLAs included Vijay Bahuguna, Harak Singh Rawat, Kunwar Pranav Champion, Shaila Rani Rawat, Umesh Sharma, Shailendra Mohan, Amrita Rawat, Subodh Uniyal and Pradeep Batra. The rebellion had hit the Harish Rawat government so much that President's rule was imposed in Uttarakhand. Rawat's government had been reinstated after he won a Supreme Court-monitored trust vote in the state assembly.
