Uttarakhand 'sting CD': BJP accuses Rawat of shielding 'loyal'

The sting CD, where Rawat's former personal secy M Shahid was purportedly shown negotiating a bribery deal for liquor licences, had led to a series of altercations between the govt and the opposition

Accusing Uttarakhand CM Harish Rawat of shielding a "loyal" official, the state BJP unit today reiterated its demands for a CBI probe into the sting CD episode, allegedly involving the former personal secretary of the Chief Minister.

The BJP expressed its reservations over handing over the probe into the matter to Principal Secretary to CM Om Prakash.

The sting CD, where Rawat's former personal secretary Mohammad Shahid was purportedly shown negotiating a bribery deal for liquor licences, had led to a series of altercations between the state government and the opposition.

"The state government is aware that a probe by CBI will definitely indict the official in question. So it has ordered a probe by the Principal Secretary. This kind of investigation is meaningless as it will meet the same fate as the probe conducted by the Chief Secretary N Ravishankar recently into the disaster relief scam," Leader of Opposition in the state assembly, Ajay Bhatt said in a statement here.

The Chief Secretary had given a clean chit to state government officials in alleged misappropriation of funds meant for 2013 disaster victims of Uttarakhand, saying no irregularities had been detected anywhere.

While DGP B S Sidhu is examining the authenticity of the sting CD episode, Principal Secretary Om Prakash has been entrusted with the task of probing the entire episode.

Meanwhile the accused official Mohammad Shahid, a Gujarat cadre IAS officer of 1998 batch, was recalled to the Centre and his tenure curtailed, days after his name cropped up in connection with the sting CD episode.

Shahid had come on deputation to Uttarakhand, couple of months after Harish Rawat took over as the Chief Minister in February 2014.

He was also PS to Rawat when the latter was Union Minister for Water Resources during 2012-14.