Sting tapes may wait for Speaker's enquiry report:CNN IBN

New Delhi, Jul 30 (UNI) Amid increasing public pressure and speculations about the contents of the tapes of its vote-for-cash 'sting operation' carried out to expose the alleged horse-trading during the run-up to the trust vote on July 22, TV news channel CNN-IBN today said it would like to wait for the report of the inquiry set up by the Speaker before telecasting the sting tapes.

The channel, however, said it reserved the right to air the story as and when it was in a position to do so.

''We have chosen not to telecast the story because we did not feel the story was complete. ...In this particular story there were many loose ends that needed to be cross-checked, corroborated and investigated further before the story could be aired,'' the TV channel said in a statement issued here.

CNN-IBN said it provided to the Speaker all the raw, unedited footage within 24 hours of the ''Parliament fracas'', and promised to fully cooperate with the Parliamentary probe panel.

The channel got its decision endorsed by eminent jurist and former Solicitor General of the country Harish Salve.

It quoted Mr Salve as saying, ''The investigation by the channel was not ready for telecast in the sense of a cast iron story (which such stories should be), it did require some more enquiry into certain matters, which could have been done, but rendered impossible by the fact that on the afternoon of July 22 itself, the three MPs raised the issue in Parliament and then went on to make public hat this has been recorded by CNN IBN. Obvously, after this fact became publicly known, all sources of information dried up.'' The jurist said,'' In my view, the channel should await the results of the enquiry, at least until a period of a fortnight or so.'' The TV channel said it was a unique 'sting operation' in the sense 'neither did we participated nor were we engaging in entrapment by offering cash, nor were we under a false identity...

We were simlpy recording an alleged bribery operation, without interfering in it at any stage.'' On July 22, the action of the three BJP MPs in dumping wads of currency notes, which claimed to be the bribe money given to them to vote in favour of the UPA Government, on the table of the Lok Sabha had created sensation, which had forced the Speaker to promise an inquiry into the matter.

The BJP MPs had alleged that Samajwadi MP and General Secretary Amar Singh and political advisor to Congress chairperson Sonia Gandhi were behind the offer of money.

The SP had voted in favour of the UPA Government during the trust vote.

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