Sachin Pilot Vs Gehlot: Audio clips to be sent for forensic verification as BJP seeks CBI probe

The latest round of political tug of war in Rajasthan is happening over the audio clips, alleged to contain evidence of horse-trading in an attempt to topple the Ashok Gehlot government.

Rajasthan police has decided to send the controversial audio clips, allegedly containing evidence of the BJP’s involvement in horse trading of state MLAs to destabilize Ashok Gehlot government, for forensic verification.

Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot has said that he was not on talking terms with Sachin Pilot for about 18 months. (HT Photo/File/Representative Use)

The move comes amid BJP’s counter-offensive, demanding a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to find out if the audio clips were recorded illegally through unauthorised phone tapping of legislators and politicians at the behest of the Rajasthan government.

The developments in the past 24 hours have put the limelight on the clips, played out by the Ashok Gehlot camp claiming it to be the evidence of the involvement of some MLAs supporting Sachin Pilot, in a plot to bring down the Gehlot government.

“FIR has been registered under Sections 7 and 7A of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The audio clips will be sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory for verification. After the report comes and it is verified, we will make the alleged people undergo a voice test,” Alok Tripathi, director general (DG) of Rajasthan’s anti corruption bureau (ACB) was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

The senior ACB official said Congress chief whip Mahesh Joshi, on Friday, handed over the audio tapes to the ACB along with names of three individuals--Bhanwar Lal, Sanjay Jain and Gajendra Singh—alleging their involvement in horse-trading attempts.

The attempts by the state’s special operation group (SOG) to question Sachin Pilot and 18 of his loyalist MLAs camping at a hotel in Haryana’s Manesar town, failed yesterday since the MLAs had reportedly left the hotel by the time SOG was permitted by Haryana police to enter the premises.

The SOG wanted to take voice samples of a few MLAs in Sachin Pilot’s camp.

Earlier today, Rajasthan Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra suggested that the police in BJP-ruled Haryana had blocked Rajasthan police helping MLAs to move out.

“Rajasthan SOG team was made to wait by BJP government’s Haryana police until the MLAs inside the resort in Manesar were moved out through a secret door,” he said while addressing a press conference in Jaipur today.

The party had earlier demanded the arrest of Union minister Gajendra Shekhawat, alleging that he is heard in one of the audio clips discussing the plot to bring down the Congress government in the state.

Shekhawat has denied any involvement and said that the voice on the clip is not his. The BJP has sought a CBI probe to find out if phones of politicians and MLA were tapped illegally.

Former Rajasthan chief minister and senior BJP leader Vasundhra Raje, too, hit out at the Congress and said that the people of Rajasthan were made to bear the brunt of the infighting in Congress. She added that the Congress was attempting to put the blame on BJP for failure to keep its own house in order.

The battle on the legal front between the two factions will resume on Monday, with continuation of arguments in the Rajasthan High Court on a petition filed by Sachin Pilot seeking dismissal of disqualification notice served on him and 18 of his supporter MLAs. The court has barred the speaker from taking any action till 5:30 pm on Tuesday.