Trouble mounts for Ashok Gehlot as his ex-OSD accuses him of phone tapping: “CM had called me…”

Former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot’s Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Lokesh Sharma has blamed him for the phone tapping controversy that arose during the 2020 political crisis in the state. Sharma has demanded that Gehlot be questioned in connection with the case, which was initiated on a complaint by Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.

Sharma was questioned by Delhi Police at the Crime Branch office in Rohini on Wednesday about the phone tapping incident. Following the meeting, Sharma submitted a seven-page written statement detailing the events of July 16, 2020, when he allegedly received a USB drive containing call recordings from Gehlot with instructions to release the same to the media.

“I explained that the then prime minister had called me at the prime minister’s residence and given me a USB stick. He instructed me to leak the contents of the USB stick to newspapers. I went (to my) home and transferred the files from there. I transferred the USB stick to my laptop and from the laptop to my phone and then distributed them to media houses as instructed,” he told PTI.

He said the crime branch should now summon Gehlot for questioning to know the remaining details. “The next investigation should involve Ashok Gehlot,” he said, adding that he was not involved in the intercepted calls. “It happened on the instructions of the then Prime Minister. Now he can disclose more details, whether the wiretapping was carried out, whether it was legal or illegal,” he said.

Sharma claimed that Gehlot could share details of how the call tappings were carried out and whether they were legal. This represents a departure from Sharma’s previous position when he claimed to have obtained three audio clips from social media, which he then forwarded to media outlets.

According to Sharma, the phone tappings targeted several Congress legislators from both the Gehlot and Sachin Pilot camps during the political unrest. He claimed that senior state officials, including the then chief secretary, the director general of police, the home minister and the principal secretary to the prime minister, were all aware of the wiretapping activities.

After voting for the two-stage Lok Sabha elections in Rajasthan ended in April this year, Sharma had accused Gehlot of hatching a conspiracy to tarnish the image of Sachin Pilot and Shekhawat by hacking the phones of Pilot and others Congressional leaders monitored.

The phone-tapping controversy first erupted in July 2020 when audio clips of alleged conversations between Shekhawat and Congress leaders discussing efforts to topple the Gehlot government were leaked. At that time, Gehlot accused Shekhawat of orchestrating the conspiracy.

Sharma has now asked the crime branch to summon Gehlot for questioning, saying, “The next series of investigations should involve Ashok Gehlot.” He claimed that he was not involved in the actual phone tappings and claimed that it was done on Gehlot’s orders.

The political crisis in 2020 began when then deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot and 18 other Congress MLAs rebelled against Gehlot, leading to a period of instability for the Congress government in Rajasthan.

(With inputs from PTI)