“In the video there is a woman from Mangaluru... There is a man called Rakesh Shetty from Power TV. They joined hands together to film the video. Rakesh Shetty has admitted that he conducted the sting operation and that it was false," the former CM said. (File)KARNATAKA MINISTER Yathindra Siddaramaiah on Friday alleged that some people from his own party, Congress, were behind a purported “sting operation”, aimed at tarnishing the image of his father and former chief minister Siddaramaiah.Both Siddaramaiah and Yathindra spoke publicly for the first time about the “fake sting video” from 2023 and indicated that some Congress insiders were involved in the alleged sting by Power TV Managing Director Rakesh Shetty.Shetty, meanwhile, has been granted interim bail by a local court in Bengaluru in the wake of the city police summoning him for interrogation.The Power TV MD sought anticipatory bail on Thursday fearing his arrest in the wake of the Bengaluru cybercrime police serving a notice for his appearance before police despite previous cooperation with investigations of the alleged sting video case filed on a complaint by Siddaramaiah on October 6.The counsel for Shetty argued that the Power TV MD was “not the owner, creator or administrator of the YouTube channel which was created and is run by someone else” who allegedly uploaded the video on September 27.Siddaramaiah has obtained an injunction from a court against airing or telecasting the defamatory video, which was posted on a social media site.“The sting is a fake story. It was done with the intent of blackmailing. This is why I have filed a complaint for the truth to come out. We need to know who is behind this operation. In order to prevent large-scale dissemination of fake news, I went to a civil court and obtained a stay order on the circulation of the fake news,” Siddaramaiah told reporters.Story continues below this ad“In the video there is a woman from Mangaluru… There is a man called Rakesh Shetty from Power TV. They joined hands together to film the video. Rakesh Shetty has admitted that he conducted the sting operation and that it was false,” the former CM said.“Only an investigation can reveal if someone from our own party or some other party is involved. I came to know about this on September 27 (when the video went viral). I am not disturbed by the video because it is totally concocted. It is false propaganda,” he said.Yathindra, however, indicated that the woman captured in the video was a Congress worker.“This was done to defame my father and destroy his legacy and to blackmail him. The video itself shows that people from our party were involved. There is also the head of a media organisation in the video. An investigation is necessary to find out if they did it themselves or whether someone else was involved,” Yathindra said.Story continues below this ad“We do not have suspicions about anybody. There is a woman in the video who indicates that she wants an election ticket to contest the Puttur Assembly polls (in 2023). The sting was done to help her secure a ticket, it seems on prima facie viewing of the video. Just because a party worker is involved, it does not mean that the entire party is against us,” he said.Yathindra said his father was upset by the episode involving false allegations.“After 40 years in public life he has not been tainted and this has happened at the end of his political career; he is naturally upset. However, truth is on our side and whatever allegation has been levelled, the truth will come out through the investigation,” said the state minister who holds the Urban Development portfolio.When asked if he will demand a high-level investigation, Yathindra said, “We do not want an SIT at this stage. We have confidence that the investigation being conducted by the police will be thorough and proper. If we find that it has not been conducted properly, we will raise the demand for a different agency then,” he said.