Scribe who aired sting on Rawat’s PS booked for threatening man

DEHRADUN: Two days after a portion of a building owned by him was demolished, Ashok Pandey – the journalist who had “exposed” chief minister Harish Rawat’s personal secretary Mohammad Shahid in a sting operation — suffered another setback on Wednesday as a threatening case was registered against him at the Kotwali police station. 

Acting on the complaint of Surendra Chandra Agarwal, the police have registered a case against Pandey under sections 385 (putting person in fear of injury in order to commit extortion), 504 (intentional insult) and 506 (criminal intimidation), IPC. 

In his complaint, Agarwal, an acquaintance of Pandey, claimed that the latter allegedly threatened him of dire consequences over an issue when the demolition was being carried out. 

Giving information, circle officer Kotwali Manoj Kumar Katyal told TOI, “Prima facie it appears that there were differences between Pandey and Agarwal. A case has been registered and we are probing the matter thoroughly.” 

Pandey had ‘exposed’ Shahid, a senior Gujarat cadre IAS officer, in a sting that purportedly showed him negotiating bribes for changes to the state’s policy on sale of alcohol. The video was made public on July 22. 

On Tuesday, a part of the complex owned by Pandey was demolished as some norms had been flouted. Thereafter, claiming a threat to his life, Pandey “disappeared” from Dehradun.