Sting CD case: IAS official relieved of duties in Uttarakhand

Dehradun, Aug 11: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat's former personal secretary who was purportedly shown negotiating a bribery deal in a sting video recently was on Tuesday relieved of his duties in the state.

Mohammad Shahid was relieved of his duties in Uttarakhand today, an official at the CMO said.

A Gujarat cadre IAS officer of 1998 batch, Shahid was recalled to Delhi in a sudden curtailment of his inter-cadre deputation on July 25 after his name surfaced in connection with the sting video expose.

In compliance with a directive issued by DoPT through a letter signed by Deputy Secretary to Govt of India J Srinivasan, Shahid will now report to the Union Ministry of Water resources where he was posted before being sent on deputation to Uttarakhand soon after Harish Rawat took over as Chief Minister early last year.

The state government was left red faced when a sting video purportedly showing him negotiating a bribery deal with a middleman for liquor licences surfaced last month.

He was the Chief Minister's personal secretary when the video was circulated.

However, just two days after circulation of the sting video, he was removed as PS to CM and also stripped of some other key departments he was in charge of including corruption elimination and public grievance.

Shahid had come on deputation to Uttarakhand just a 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.

PTI