A purported sting video released by Uttarakhand rebel Congress MLAs to allege that they were being offered money by Chief Minister Harish Rawat — it was put out hours before the Union Cabinet met in Delhi Saturday to recommend President’s rule — was shot by 38-year-old Umesh Kumar, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Noida-based TV channel Samachar Plus. Kumar told The Indian Express he “carried out the sting operation to expose the wrong practice of horse trading of MLAs”. He said it was done during a meeting with Harish Rawat at Jolly Grant airport in Dehradun on March 23, two days after rebel Congress MLA Harak Singh Rawat told him that horse trading of MLAs was being done ahead of a floor test. [related-post] Harish Rawat called the “sting operation” fabricated and said he would ask the Governor to order an inquiry into Kumar’s assets. Claiming his “sting operation” was in “national interest”, Kumar said: “The allegations of disproportionate assets that the CM (Harish Rawat) is levelling against me are baseless. I am ready to face any inquiry. I have properties whose value is only around Rs 3 crore. If the CM can prove I have more assets or unaccounted money, I will transfer all properties to him. I am ready to face a CBI inquiry if it is recommended in the sting video matter.” Read | Uttarakhand crisis: Rawat moves HC, parades 34 MLAs before Governor Kumar is not new to controversies, nor “sting operations”. He counts among his successes “stings to uncover” an alleged hydro power scandal, allotment of government land to a private builder — both in 2010 — and another on a BSP MLA in 2015. In the past, he has also filed PILs against the state government in Nainital High Court. Read: In Uttarakhand, BJP MLAs return, say ready for polls The first memorandum stated that 34 MLAs were presenting the memora According to Kumar, 18 criminal cases — the charges ranged from extortion, cheating and one under the SC/ST Act — were lodged against him in Dehradun between September 2010 and June 2011. “All these cases were baseless and fake. The state government itself withdrew these cases later. NBWs were issued in all cases but I never surrendered and moved High Court and Supreme Court,” he claimed. Kumar said six cases were also lodged against his wife Sonia Kumar, who is Director in News Network of India (NNI), a news agency for print media he started in 2003. He said all cases were withdrawn, including four by the government of Vijay Bahuguna — now one of the nine rebel Congress MLAs. He said his property in Ghaziabad was attached by police in 2011 after a reward of Rs 2,500 for his arrest was announced in a manhandling case. Read: Haris Rawat conspired to implicate me: BJP MLA who ‘attacked’ horse According to Kumar, of the 18 cases lodged against him, three were withdrawn by the Vijay Bahuguna government and the rest by the one led by Harish Rawat. He claimed that the Harish Rawat government even provided him security in 2014 because there was a threat to his life. Senior Congress leader Indira Hridayesh, who was a minister in the Harish Rawat government, denied knowledge of criminal cases against Umesh Kumar and their withdrawal.
