Sting: Cong to go to court if original CD not provided by BJP

Dehradun: The ruling Congress in Uttarakhand today threatened to take legal action against those behind the sting video CD, if its original and the tools used in its making were not made available to the party without further delay.

Reiterating the party’s commitment to take action against anyone found guilty of corruption, PCC Vice President Jot Singh Bisht today wrote to BJP President Amit Shah asking him to produce the original of the sting video CD and the tools used in its making so that they could be sent for forensic tests to verify its authenticity and the charges levelled on its basis against a state government official by the BJP.

As the CD was released by BJP national spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman at a press conference in Delhi, making its original available is the BJP’s prime responsibility, Bisht said in his letter to Shah.

He wondered why it was taking BJP so long to produce the original of the sting video CD and the tools used in its making despite the party going to press with the CD and its allegations on July 23 itself.

“It is nearly a month since the CD was released to the press by Sitharaman.

Several requests have been made by Chief Minister Harish Rawat and PCC Chief Kishore Upadhyay for production of the original CD so that its authenticity could be established but still the BJP has not done anything about it,” said the Congress leader.

Declaring that the party will not tolerate further delay in the matter, Bisht said if the original of the CD and the tools used in its making were not made available without delay the party will take the matter to the court.

“The way BJP has gone silent on the issue after making the allegations shows its only interest is to bring disrepute to the state government,” he said.

A sting video came to the surface recently in Uttarakhand purportedly showing Harish Rawat’s former Personal Secretary Mohammad Shahid negotiating a bribery deal with a middleman for liquor licences.

Shahid, an IAS officer who was posted on deputation to Uttarakhand has since been recalled to Delhi.