The minister has been asked to file a reply by July 14. (file)
Jaipur:
Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has been served a court notice by the Rajasthan Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) in an alleged horse-trading case related to allegations of conspiracy to topple the Ashok Gehlot government in 2020.
A Jaipur court had issued the notice after the ACB filed a revision petition seeking a voice sample of Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
Sources said the minister has been asked to file his reply by July 14. Last year, a lower court dismissed the anti-corruption body’s plea. Following this, the ACB filed a revision petition, on which the court has now sought Shekhawat’s reply.
Soon after the notice was issued to Mr Singh, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot launched a scathing attack on the Union minister, alleging that he along with Congress leader Sachin Pilot tried to topple his government two years ago.
Mr Gehlot’s remarks came after Mr Shekhawat had a meeting in Jaipur’s Chomu town that if Sachin Pilot had not missed the opportunity to change the government in Rajasthan, water would have come through the East Rajasthan Canal Project.
Gehlot said, “Now you are naming Sachin Pilot that he missed the opportunity, which shows that you were colluding with him.”
The chief minister said Shekhawat kept on defending himself but eventually he got the notice of the court. “What’s the problem with giving voice samples?” He asked.
Amid the revolt in 2020 led by the then Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot, three audio clips had surfaced online, in which some rebel Congress leaders were seen interacting with a BJP leader discussing bribes to topple the Ashok Gehlot government.
The Congress had then claimed that the audio clip contained the voices of Gajendra Singh, rebel Congress MLAs Bhanwar Lal Sharma and Vishvendra Singh.
Congress leader Mahesh Josh then lodged an FIR with the Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Special Operations Group (SOG) on the basis of the audio clip.