The powerful want to trample me: Harish Rawat

Alleging that some powerful people wanted to trample him, former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat accused the CBI of being "impatient" and "under pressure " in its probe into the sting operation case.

Rawat on Friday said that he was ready for any punishment but his right to justice should be protected. "Some powerful people want to trample me under their feet," he tweeted.

"Justice is free, it will punish the guilty and protect the innocent but why do the powerful today seem to mount pressure on everything. Am I a threat to the country's security? Am I a threat to law and order? Am I running away from the country," he asked.

"When the high court has set October 1 as the next date of hearing in the sting case, why is the CBI so impatient," the AICC general secretary asked.

A sting video purportedly showing Rawat negotiating a deal to buy the support of rebel party MLAs to save his government in 2016 had created a flutter.

Though Rawat subsequently won a Supreme Court monitored floor test in the state assembly and his government was reinstated after a brief spell of President's rule a CBI probe was launched into the sting operation.

The CBI, which had told the Uttarakhand High Court on September 3 that it will file an FIR against Rawat in the sting case, on Friday told the court that the former chief minister was not cooperating with its probe into the case.

The argument was contended by Rawat's lawyer but the court sought the submission of more documents in the case even as Justice RC Khulbe who heard the case on Friday recused himself from further hearings.

The matter will now be referred to Chief Justice Ramesh Rangnathan who will decide the new bench and date to hear the case.