11 months on, Gehlot’s former OSD summoned by Delhi Police again

This was a significant shift from his earlier stance wherein he had claimed that he received the clips from social media and circulated them among journalists.

Playing purported audio recordings of Gehlot, he had said that then CM had also inquired if the phone used to share the recordings was destroyed and also asked him to give away his laptop. Sharma told reporters that although he destroyed the phone, he kept the laptop. He had also accused Gehlot of not pursuing the case once the Congress party lost the Assembly polls in December last year, leaving him to fend for himself.

In 2020, the leak of three audio clips allegedly involving one Gajendra Singh — alleged to be Shekhawat — a middleman Sanjay Jain, and then Congress MLAs Bhanwarlal Sharma and Vishvendra Singh had led to a political crisis in Rajasthan. In the tapes, they were allegedly heard devising a plan to topple the Gehlot government. Subsequently the then Deputy CM Sachin Pilot had then led a rebellion of 19 Congress MLAs.

Months later in 2021, the state government had virtually accepted that phones were tapped during the political crisis, leading to an FIR by Shekhawat against Sharma and others.

Sharma has now been served a notice by the Crime Branch of Delhi Police which has asked him to appear at its office at 11 am on September 25. Sharma confirmed that he has received the notice and will be appearing to join the investigation on the said date and time. He has already appeared before the Delhi Police multiple times in the past.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court had allowed the Rajasthan government to withdraw the suit wherein it had challenged Delhi Police’s jurisdiction to investigate the phone tapping case against Sharma.