UP sting operation: Panel for contempt case against channel

Lucknow, Sep 14 (UNI) An Uttar Pradesh assembly committee set up after a sting operation involving three MLAs was telecast by a news channel in February this year today recommended a contempt case against the channel editor and asked the house to force the channel to give the unedited version of the video tape.

''Even after several summons, the news channel editor did not appear before the committee, which is contempt of the UP assembly,'' an interim report submitted by the committee chairman Dr P K Rai in the house maintained.

The probe had been stalled as the concerned channel did not provide the original video tape, the committee said.

In its two-page recommendation, the 11-member committee did not give a clean chit to the three MLAs -- Mahboob Ali (LBD), Samaru Ram Saroj (BJP) and Anil Kumar Maurya (BSP) -- on the sting operation, but further said they could not be punished on the basis of edited video clippings.

Assembly speaker Mata Prasad Pandey on February 18 had constituted the committee after the channel telecast the sting operation 'Neta Bikta Hai' showing the three MLAs involved in corrupt practices. One of the MLAs, Mahboob Ali, who was minister in the state, later resigned following the controversy.

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