Updated: October 8, 2020 7:40:14 am
Sources close to Pilot called the FIR “strange” and asked why it was being housed two months later. Gehlot has the portfolio of homes in the state. (Rohit Jain Paras Express File Photo)
LESS than two months after Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and former MP CM Sachin Pilot called for a truce after a bitter public fight, the state police filed an FIR against Pilot’s media manager Lokendra Singh, and Aaj Tak editor Sharat Kumar, based in Jaipur, accusing them of spreading “misleading and false news” about the wiretapping of MLAs abducted by the CM from a hotel in Jaisalmer.
In the midst of the 35-day political drama, Camp Piloto had accused the Gehlot government of wiretapping MLA phones. Police had denied the allegations.
According to the FIR, filed on October 1, Satyapal Singh, the duty officer in the Police Control Room at the Jaipur Police Commissioner, reported that on August 7, agent Surendra Yadav had shown him “misleading news “that were shared on WhatsApp that the phones of the MLAs who were in Jaisalmer were being searched.
Rajasthan’s Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Sachin Pilot and KC Venugopal (Source: Twitter / @ kcvenugopalmp)
The FIR says this was investigated by Surendra Pancholi, SHO, Special Crimes and Cyber Crimes Commissariat. Pancholi recorded statements by Lokendra Singh, who runs the XYZ news agency, and Kumar, and also made a transcript of a television report by the journalist on the interception allegations. Sources said Singh’s statement was recorded at Pilot’s residence on August 20, six days after Gehlot won the vote of confidence.
“They were unable to give a logical answer when asked about the source of (the) fake news,” says the FIR, adding that “the investigation makes it clear that Lokendra Singh of the XYZ news agency and Sharat Kumar of Rajasthan Tak (Aaj Tak) are responsible for spreading false and misleading news. “
Singh was summoned for questioning on Thursday, along with his cell phone and computer through which he allegedly spread the news. Sharat Kumar said: “All the news channels carried the news from morning to night. Why is a channel highlighted? “
Sources close to Pilot called the FIR “strange” and asked why it was being housed two months later. Gehlot has the largest housing portfolio in the state.
The FIR accuses Singh and Kumar of “prima facie” creating the “false” story, and says that Kumar, without verifying the authenticity of the news circulating on social media, issued it on 7 August. The FIR says that the police also approached Rajasthan Patrika and Dainik Bhaskar, who had handled the allegations, and the newspapers said they had published the same after the initial reports from XYZ and Aaj Tak.
Pancholi’s phone was turned off and they couldn’t reach him for comment.
The FIR has been filed at the Vidhayak Puri Police Station in Jaipur under sections 505 (1) of the IPC (on any statement, rumor or report), 505 (2) (statements that create or promote enmity, hatred or ill will between classes) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy), along with Section 76 of the IT Act. According to the latter, an electronic device linked to any infringement of the Law “will be subject to confiscation.”
Sources close to Pilot said: “This comes a day after Rahul Gandhi said (in Punjab) to give me freedom of the press and other key institutions, and this government (of Narendra Modi) will not last long. Here in Rajasthan, Gehlot is doing the exact same thing as Modi. And he is also the Minister of the Interior, so he cannot plead ignorance about the case. “
On August 7, the pilot camp had accused the CM of tapping the phones of at least six members of the judicial police from its own camp staying at the Suryagarh Hotel in Jaisalmer, with the help of the police. He had also shared a document that allegedly showed a list of calls made to the MLAs.
The statement from the pilot camp stated that “Ajaib Electronics has installed four jammers at the Suryagarh complex and there is only one place in the entire hotel from which calls can be made.”
Calling the allegations “false information” and “illegal”, the police had said: “No unit of the Rajasthan police is involved in, nor was it carried out before, any wiretapping (phone calls) of any MLA or MP … Accusation of recording intercom conversations is false and fictitious. “
Tensions between Gehlot and Pilot have been simmering despite the mediation of the high command of Congress. The absence of the CM has been noted in the PCC events to mark the Rajiv Gandhi Jayanti and Gandhi Jayanti, where Pilot was present. Last month, Pilot supporter Naresh Meena, who was positive for Covid at the time, was arrested for protesting illegal mining in front of a police station.
BJP State Chairman Satish Poonia said: “Ashok Gehlot says great things about the threat to democracy, but now he is resorting to suppressing his fourth pillar. The reason is that in recent days, journalists have raised their voices for the protection of the underprivileged and women ”.
The People’s Union for Civil Liberties called the police action “the revenge of the Rajasthan government led by CM Ashok Gehlot”, and asked him to “clarify the issue of wiretapping.”
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