Rajasthan
Shekhawat: HC notice to Shekhawat on Raj appeal seeking nod for voice sample collection | Jaipur News
JAIPUR: The Rajasthan high court has issued a notice to Union jal shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on an appeal by the state government to collect his voice samples in a case related to alleged horse-trading during Sachin Pilot’s rebellion in July 2020.
The court asked the minister to file his reply within four weeks. Vacation judge Chandra Kumar Songaraa directed the notice to be issued on state anti-corruption bureau’s appeal, challenging a district court’s February 17 order rejecting its petition seeking permission for taking Shekhawat’s voice sample.
Earlier, a magistrate court had also rejected the ACB plea. Additional advocate general Ghanshyam Singh Rathore, appearing for the ACB, submitted that the magistrate court and the district court erred in dismissing the agency’s plea on the ground that there was no such provision in the Criminal Procedure Code.
Quoting a Supreme Court order of 2019, he argued that till Parliament makes rules regarding the matter, the magistrate court was empowered to order collection of voice samples.
Rathore further pointed out that the lower court had ordered to collect the voice sample of another accused, Sanjay Jain, but rejected the application in Shekhawat’s case.
The case is related to the political crisis triggered by the Pilot camp’s revolt in July 2020 when it was alleged that BJP had hatched a conspiracy to topple the Gehlot government by poaching Congress MLAs. In an audio clip that went viral, three persons were heard negotiating money transactions, and the voices were alleged to be those of Shekhawat, middleman Sanjay Jain and Congress MLA late Bhanwarlal Sharma. Mahesh Joshi, the then chief whip, had filed a complaint with SOG alleging conspiracy to topple the government. SOG started a probe and arrested Jain.
The matter was later transferred to ACB, which began investigating by making Jain, Shekhawat and Bhanwarlal Sharma the accused in the case. Jain is currently out on bail.
The court asked the minister to file his reply within four weeks. Vacation judge Chandra Kumar Songaraa directed the notice to be issued on state anti-corruption bureau’s appeal, challenging a district court’s February 17 order rejecting its petition seeking permission for taking Shekhawat’s voice sample.
Earlier, a magistrate court had also rejected the ACB plea. Additional advocate general Ghanshyam Singh Rathore, appearing for the ACB, submitted that the magistrate court and the district court erred in dismissing the agency’s plea on the ground that there was no such provision in the Criminal Procedure Code.
Quoting a Supreme Court order of 2019, he argued that till Parliament makes rules regarding the matter, the magistrate court was empowered to order collection of voice samples.
Rathore further pointed out that the lower court had ordered to collect the voice sample of another accused, Sanjay Jain, but rejected the application in Shekhawat’s case.
The case is related to the political crisis triggered by the Pilot camp’s revolt in July 2020 when it was alleged that BJP had hatched a conspiracy to topple the Gehlot government by poaching Congress MLAs. In an audio clip that went viral, three persons were heard negotiating money transactions, and the voices were alleged to be those of Shekhawat, middleman Sanjay Jain and Congress MLA late Bhanwarlal Sharma. Mahesh Joshi, the then chief whip, had filed a complaint with SOG alleging conspiracy to topple the government. SOG started a probe and arrested Jain.
The matter was later transferred to ACB, which began investigating by making Jain, Shekhawat and Bhanwarlal Sharma the accused in the case. Jain is currently out on bail.
