Rawat asks BJP to produce original sting CD

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat todaylashed out at the BJP for disrupting proceedings of the state Assembly here by insisting on its demand for a CBI probe into the sting CD episode saying it was not behaving as a responsible opposition.
"It is highly irresponsible on part of the BJP as an opposition party to disrupt the House in this manner. They (BJP) have said on record that they were behind the sting operation.
"I have asked them time and again to produce the original CD so that it could be sent for a forensic examination. No probe, let alone one by CBI, can be ordered into the case unless there is an FIR lodged in connection with it," Rawat said.

But even an FIR can be lodged only when something "fishy is found in the CD" after forensic examination which is possible only if the BJP, the mind behind the sting operation, produces the original CD and the tools used in its making," he told reporters here.
In Gairsain, the opposition party "created an uproar" in the state assembly on the opening day of a session forcing several adjournments of the proceedings.
Rawat said all options for a probe are open before the state government into the sting CD episode but the original CD is a prerequisite for it and the ball is in the BJP's court.

"We are not shying away from a probe as is being alleged. All options are open before us but where is the original CD? I do not know for what reason the BJP is hiding it, " he said.

Disrupting proceedings of the state assembly in Gairsain is also showing disrespect to the aspirations of the hill people which it symbolises, the Chief Minister said.
A sting CD allegedly showing Chief Minister Harish Rawat's former secretary Mohammad Shahid negotiating a bribery deal with a middleman for liquor licences had surfaced in the month of July creating a veritable political storm in Uttarakhand.

However, Shahid, a senior IAS officer who was posted on deputation in the CMO was immediately removed as secretary to CM following the episode by the state government.
He was also recalled to Delhi soon after that cutting short his tenure of deputation.