New Delhi, November 26
The Delhi Police arrested former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot’s OSD Lokesh Sharm in a 2021 phone tapping case that was registered on the basis of a complaint filed by Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
He was subsequently released on bail as he had secured anticipatory bail in the case last week.
Based on the complaint of Union minister and Rajasthan BJP leader Shekhawat an FIR was lodged in Delhi in March 2021. Sharma and others were accused of criminal conspiracy and “unlawfully intercepting telegraphic signals (telephonic conversation)”.
These interceptions pertain to the 2020 leak of three audio clips purportedly involving one Gajendra Singh – alleged to be the Union minister – a middleman, Sanjay Jain, and then Congress MLAs Bhanwarlal Sharma and Vishvendra Singh. In the tapes, they were purportedly heard planning to topple the Gehlot government in the state. Subsequently, the Congress government was rocked by a rebellion of 19 MLAs led by then Deputy CM Sachin Pilot.
Sharma has previously been questioned by Delhi Police on several occasions, including this September.
On November 14, Sharma had withdrawn his petition in Delhi High Court seeking to quash the FIR. This had effectively lifted the stay on his arrest by Delhi Police. On November 21, Sharma secured anticipatory bail.
