Congress's Harish Rawat, Others Told To Give Voice Samples In 2016 Sting Ops Case

A special CBI court has ordered four leaders, including former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat, to give their voice samples in connection with the 2016 'sting operation' case.

Special Judge Dharmendra Adhikari on Monday ordered Harish Rawat, former state minister Harak Singh Rawat, Congress MLA from Dwarahat Madan Bisht along with Umesh Sharma, the journalist who conducted the alleged sting and is now an Independent MLA from Khanpur, to give their voice samples.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will issue separate notices to these leaders about when and where the samples will be taken.

Earlier, during the hearing in the case on July 15, the lawyers of all the leaders except Umesh Sharma opposed the CBI's demand to record voice samples on the grounds that a petition related to the case is pending in the Uttarakhand High Court, which is likely to pronounce its verdict on July 27.

The sting operation became public in 2016 after 10 Congress MLAs rebelled against the Harish Rawat-led government in Uttarakhand and joined hands with the BJP.

The CBI had sought permission from the court to collect samples to match the voices in this sting.

In the video, Mr Rawat was allegedly heard bargaining with the dissident MLAs to save his government.

At that time President's rule was imposed in the state following the rebellion of Congress MLAs. However, the Rawat government was reinstated after it secured a majority in the floor test held on the direction of the Supreme Court, but the rebel MLAs were denied the right to vote in it.