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Where are CM Sukhu's ‘samosas’? Himachal CID probes how they went missing: Report
The samosas meant for VVIPs exchanged several hands during an event that chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu attended.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Himachal Pradesh ordered an internal probe after his security staff was served samosas and other refreshments meant for chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu during his visit to its headquarters on October 21.
An enquiry report by the CID said those responsible acted according to their “agenda” and termed the incident an “anti-government” act as the items could not be served to the VIPs attending a function, reported news agency PTI.
How did samosas go missing?
An enquiry report by a deputy SP rank officer found that samosas from three boxes of refreshments meant for the chief minister were rather served to his security staff.
According to the report, an IG-rank police officer had asked a sub-inspector (SI) to buy refreshments from Hotel Radisson Blue in Lakkar Bazaar to serve the VVIPs. The SI asked, in turn, directed his assistant (ASI) and a head constable to bring them.
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Only the SI was aware that three sealed boxes of refreshments were meant for the chief minister. She handed them over to the mechanical transport (MT) section, which handles refreshments. These boxes were reportedly exchanged several times during the process.
During the enquiry, the police officers said in their statement that the transport department staff had informed them that the snacks in three boxes were not on the menu.
Politics over missing samosas
The ruling Congress party denied claims that the government ordered a CID probe into the incident and said the agency was conducting its own internal probe. It also accused the BJP of unnecessarily blowing up the issue to defame the government.
“Because the BJP does not have any issues, hence false propaganda is being done against the Congress government through this issue,” said the chief minister's chief adviser Naresh Chouhan, according to an India Today report.
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Himachal Pradesh DG CID Sanjeev Ranjan also said the state government has not ordered such a probe.
“The Chief Minister was our chief guest for a function. When the function was over, officers were sitting and having tea and someone told that some stuff was brought and what happened to that, just find out. It was just this only, and it is purely an internal matter of the CID. It is sad and unfortunate that it has been blown out of proportion and politicised. It is unfortunate that people who have nothing to do with this are targeted,” said Ranjan, according to the report.
The opposition BJP accused the Sukhu government of only caring about 'missing' samosas and not the state's development.
“Employees are not getting salaries in a month and sometimes a ban is imposed on jobs in Himachal Pradesh, but no attention is paid to it. But, for the Chief Minister's program, samosas were ordered from a five-star hotel and instead of reaching there, some people ate them on the way and an inquiry was put on them and high-ranking officials were appointed,” said BJP MLA Satpal Singh Satti.
