Audio clips controversy: Rajasthan ACB lodges FIR
Jaipur/New Delhi: As the political crisis continues to play out in Rajasthan, the issue of 'phone-tapping' of political leaders blew up into a major controversy on Saturday with the BJP seeking a CBI probe and the Congress alleging that the demand amounted to its "admission of guilt".
Rajasthan Police's Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has registered a case in connection with two audio clips of conversations purportedly regarding a "conspiracy" to topple the Ashok Gehlot government.
DG ACB Alok Tripathi on Saturday said the FIR was registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act on a complaint by Chief Whip Mahesh Joshi on Friday.
In the FIR, details of conversations of rebel MLA Bhanwarlal Sharma with Sanjay Jain and Union minister Gajendra Singh are mentioned.
While the Congress alleged that Sanjay Jain is a BJP leader, the saffron party rejected the allegation, saying he had no connection with the BJP.
"We will send the audio clips to the Forensic Science Laboratory for testing," the police official said.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has sought a report from the Rajasthan Chief Secretary on the BJP's allegations of illegal tapping of phones amid a political crisis triggered by Congress leader Sachin Pilot's open revolt, news agency ANI reported.
Before the ACB, the Special Operations Group of the Rajasthan Police (SOG) had registered two FIRs on Friday morning and arrested Sanjay Jain in connection with one case on Friday night.
Jain's name had surfaced in a viral audio recording about horse-trading of legislators to topple the Congress government in Rajasthan.
BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra launched an attack on the Congress a day after it cited audio clips to accuse some saffron party leaders, including Shekhawat, of conspiring to topple the Gehlot government in the state.
Patra said senior Congress leaders, including the Chief Minister, have been claiming that these audio clips are authentic even though the FIR registered by police does not say so.
He demanded an immediate reaction from the state government and called for a CBI investigation into this "saga of illegalities and concocted lies".
He cited regulations governing phone tapping to say that it can only be done by authorised agencies as per the due process of law and subject to approved safeguards and a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).
Responding to Patra's remarks, the Congress said the BJP's demand for a probe made it clear that it was behind the rebellion by Sachin Pilot and others and was involved in the alleged 'horse-trading' of MLAs in Rajasthan.
"We have all seen, every day a new layer comes out exposing the direct links of the BJP in creating some kind of crisis, trying to commit murder of democracy in Rajasthan. Their only grievance was that when they were murdering democracy, why were they getting recorded and if they were getting recorded, was it legal," Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said at a virtual press conference.
Meanwhile, hours after the Chief Minister claimed support from the two MLAs of Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP), he paid a courtesy visit to Governor Kalraj Mishra at the Raj Bhavan on Saturday. The Chief Minister in his tweet said they discussed the efforts being taken to control the spread of Coronavirus in the state.
Earlier in the day, the two BTP MLAs said in a joint press conference with state Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasara on Saturday that they would support Gehlot.
BTP legislators Rajkumar Roat and Ramprasad asserted that their party's president and other leaders have agreed on extending support to the Gehlot government on the condition that demands related to the development of the state are fulfilled.
