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Rajasthan phone tapping case: Court okays Shekhawat’s voice sample collection
Audio clips of alleged telephonic conversations between Shekhawat and Congress leaders surfaced amidst a rebellion against chief minister Ashok Gehlot by his then deputy Sachin Pilot and 18 party MLAs last year
A Jaipur court has issued directions for collecting voice samples of Union water minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and an alleged middleman, Sanjay Jain, in connection with an investigation into last year’s leaked audio clips of conversations about toppling the Ashok Gehlot-led Rajasthan government, an official of the state’s anti-corruption bureau said.
Jaipur’s chief metropolitan magistrate Dharmaraj Meena’s order on Wednesday came in response to a June 30 request by Rajasthan’s anti-corruption bureau (ACB) which is investigating the case, a senior ACB official said on Thursday.
The audio tapes surfaced in July last year, around the same time Gehlot faced a rebellion by 18 Congress legislators led by former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot.
A First Information Report (FIR) was registered on complaints by Congress chief whip in the Rajasthan assembly Mahesh Joshi for the audio clips in which some people were heard discussing steps to bring down the Rajasthan government by luring away its lawmakers.
Congress leaders alleged the tapes pertain to an elaborate attempt by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party to topple the Gehlot government.
Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat had promptly rejected allegations that he was on one of the audio clips, insisted the audiotapes were “fake” and mounted a counter-attack on the Gehlot government. “The voice on the audiotapes is not mine. I am ready to face any investigation,” Shekhawat had then said.
The senior ACB official cited above said the magistrate concerned will issue a notice to Shekhawat and Sanjay Jain to appear before the court and provide samples. The notices will be executed by the ACB.
The ACB request for the voice samples came a fortnight after the Congress’ chief whip Mahesh Joshi was summoned by Delhi Police on June 15 in connection with the FIR lodged by Shekhawat on phone-tapping on March 25 this year against the chief minister’s officer on special duty (OSD) Lokesh Sharma.
The OSD has approached the Delhi high court to seek quashing of the FIR against him. Earlier this month, the court asked the Delhi Police not to take any coercive action against Sharma till the next date of hearing
