Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat asked to give voice sample

Jaipur: A Jaipur court has directed that voice samples of Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and alleged middleman Sanjay Jain be collected in connection with audio clips leaked last year purportedly of conversations about toppling the Rajasthan government.

The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Jaipur-2 court issued the direction on Wednesday in response to an Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) application filed last week. The voice samples will be taken by the magistrate of the Rent Control Tribunal, which was authorised to issue the necessary notices, an ACB official said. Lokesh Sharma, OSD to the Rajasthan CM, had allegedly circulated the audio clips purportedly of conversation about toppling the state government between Shekhawat and Congress leaders amidst a rebellion against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot by his then deputy Sachin Pilot and 18 party MLAs supporting him.

On the basis of the audio clips, Rajasthan government chief whip Mahesh Joshi had registered cases with the special operations group (SOG) and the anti-corruption bureau (ACB) of Rajasthan Police in July last year, but the FIR did not mention that "Gajendra Singh" referred to in the clip was Union Minister Shekhawat. The development comes close on the heels of the Delhi Police summoning Joshi in connection with an FIR filed by Union Minister Shekhawat in the phone tapping matter. Joshi did not appear, citing various reasons. Shekhawat had filed the FIR against Sharma.

On June 3, a Delhi court stayed any coercive action by the Delhi Police against Sharma until further orders. Joshi was then summoned to record his statement by the crime branch of Delhi Police. Reacting to the development, Joshi said, "I welcome the court's decision. It would not be exaggerating if I say that God has fulfilled Gajendra ji's wish. From past several days, he has been saying that he has not received any notice and he is ready to give sample. Now, he should himself step forward without taking shelter of higher court and give sample." The SOG had ultimately closed the case after the Congress high command intervened to resolve the issues between Gehlot and Pilot.