Congress leader Ashok Gehlot’s former Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Lokesh Sharma has alleged that during the 2020 party crisis in the state, the phones of party rebels, including Sachin Pilot, and their movements were tracked at the former Chief Minister’s behest, according to a report in Indian Express.
“On July 16, 2020, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot left Hotel Fairmont (where MLAs were sequestered due to the political crisis) around 3.30-4.00 pm. An hour after he left, his PSO Ramniwas called me saying that the CM has summoned me,” Sharma said.
The pen drive had the three audio clips which I conveyed to the public through all of you, Sharma said claiming that he did not even know the content of the audio files and was merely following the CM’s instructions, according to the report.
Also Read: Sachin Pilot was being chased, his movement tracked, phone tapped in 2020 by state govt, claims Ashok Gehlot OSD
“Since one can’t directly circulate through a pen drive, I brought it home and transferred it to a laptop. From the laptop, I took the audio clips in my phone and circulated it among journalists through my phone,” he said.
Sharma had made some allegations regarding Gehlot before as well. In December last year, he said that the former CM had carried out a surveillance on Sachin Pilot during the 2020 rebellion.
The fresh revelations come a day before 13 seats of Rajasthan go to polls in the second phase on April 26. Sharma is also an accused in an FIR, lodged in connection with these audio clips, in Delhi in March 2021. Sharma and others have been accused of criminal conspiracy and “unlawfully intercepting” telephonic conversation.
Sharma alleged that the former CM had also inquired if the phone used to share the recordings was destroyed and also asked him to give away his laptop. He said although he destroyed the phone, he kept the laptop. Sharma said Gehlot employed him for his political gains and to save his chair.
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Congress spokesperson Swarnim Chaturvedi responded to Sharma’s allegation, “He is not a member of the organisation and he is in touch with BJP leaders. Hence, he’s acting on their instructions,” he told Indian Express.
In 2020, the leak of three audio clips allegedly involving Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, a middleman Sanjay Jain, and then Congress MLAs Bhanwarlal Sharma and Vishvendra Singh had led to a political crisis in Rajasthan. In the tapes, they were allegedly heard devising a plan to topple the Gehlot government. Pilot, the then deputy CM Pilot had led a rebellion of 19 Congress MLAs.
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Published: 25 Apr 2024, 08:30 AM IST