An official who worked with Former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot has alleged that he had been given audio clips of cabinet ministers by Gehlot and asked to release them to the media.
The BJP had been accused of attempting to topple the then Congress government in Rajasthan after rumours had surfaced of phone tapping of various Congress leaders, including Sachin Pilot, who had been planning to complain against Gehlot’s leadership to the party high command.
Addressing a press conference in Jaipur on Wednesday, Sharma said he had not revealed anything even after intense interrogation of eight to nine hours by the crime branch, but “had been left in the lurch”, various media channels reported.
Saying he had not been truthful earlier when he claimed he received the recordings through social media, Sharma said Gehlot had handed over a pen drive to him with audio recordings of Congress leader Bhanwarlal Sharma and Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, among others and asked him to release it to the media.
Sharma also claimed that the phones of Sachin Pilot were tapped when reports came in of their complaints to the high command against Gehlot.
At the press conference Sharma also played audio clips of what he alleged were Gehlot’s queries to him about the phone tapping.
In the clips alleged to be Gehlot’s conversations with Sharma, the former CM was asking him (Sharma) if he had destroyed the phone through which the recordings had been done. Sharma's reply to Gehlot then was that he had told the media that he had received the recordings through social media.
The former OSD to Gehlot said it was wrong to say that the BJP was behind the attempt to topple the Gehlot government. When Pilot wanted to convey his displeasure with Gehlot's chief ministership to the high command, “their phones were put on tapping," Sharma said.
Gehlot was under the impression that the phone had not been destroyed. On November 26, 2021, his office, Sharma said, was raided by the police’s special operations group (SOG).
Alleging that Gehlot attempted to sabotage chances of Sachin Pilot becoming the Rajasthan chief minister, Sharma also played recordings which he alleged were of Gehlot asking him about the Rajasthan paper leak.
He also alleged that massive corruption had taken place during Congress rule in Rajasthan when Gehlot led the government.