Bribery case: Uttarakhand CM Rawat to appear before CBI court

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat will appear before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday in connection with the probe into the sting operation that purportedly features him.

The CBI had summoned Rawat on December 23.

It had registered the preliminary inquiry on April 29 to probe the video purportedly showing Rawat offering bribes to rebel Congress MLAs in exchange for their support in the assembly floor test.

Rawat had dismissed the video as being faked after it was released by rebel Congress MLAs but later admitted that he was in the clip.

The Uttarakhand High Court yesterday set aside the Chief Minister's plea seeking a stay on his appearance before the CBI.

Rawat had made an oral plea before the bench to allow him for the time being, not to make an appearance before the CBI as a petition challenging the justification of the CBI probe into the alleged sting CD is already pending before the court.

Setting aside the plea, the court decided that the next date of hearing would be January 7 as fixed earlier.

The CBI had earlier summoned the chief minister on May 9, 2016 but he had sought more time.

After Rawat's victory in the floor test, the state cabinet on May 15 withdrew the notification recommending a CBI probe and decided to set up a special investigation team to go into the case.