Will Gehlot’s troubles increase? Crime Branch sends notice to former OSD in phone tapping case; called on September 25

The Crime Branch of Delhi Police has again summoned former OSD of former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Lokesh Sharma, for questioning on the complaint regarding phone tapping of Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.

Sneha Baluni Tue, 24 Sep 2024 06:09 AM Share

The Delhi Police Crime Branch has again summoned former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s former OSD Lokesh Sharma for questioning on the complaint of Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat regarding phone tapping. This time the questioning can become a cause of trouble for the veteran Congress leader as his former Officer on Special Duty (OSD) has publicly alleged that Gehlot himself had given him the clip of the alleged telephone conversation between Shekhawat and some Congress leaders to ‘topple’ the then Congress government in 2020.

Sharma’s claim is different from his previous stand, in which he had said that he had received three clips from social media and had forwarded them to news organisations. After this public disclosure, this is the first time he has been summoned by the Delhi Police. He was last summoned in October last year, when the Congress government was in power in the state.

A team of the Crime Branch reached Jaipur and handed Sharma a notice on Sunday, directing him to appear on September 25 at 11 am. Earlier, the Crime Branch used to send him notices via email. Sharma has confirmed that he has received the notice and will appear to join the investigation on the date and time mentioned in it.

Gehlot’s OSD said, “I will appear before the crime branch as instructed in the notice.” After the polling for the two-phase Lok Sabha elections in Rajasthan ended in April this year, Sharma had accused Gehlot of conspiring to malign the image of his then deputy CM Sachin Pilot and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, putting Pilot and other Congress leaders’ phones under surveillance, being involved in the REET paper leak and keeping the party high command in the dark.

The former OSD had said that if asked, he would give the evidence he has to the investigating agency regarding his claim. However, Gehlot had denied the allegations. The phone tapping controversy started in July 2020 during the political crisis when the Congress was in power in Rajasthan. Clips of alleged telephone conversations between Shekhawat and Congress leaders had surfaced amid the rebellion against Ashok Gehlot by Pilot and 18 party MLAs supporting him.