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Journalism of Courage
In the phone tapping case lodged by Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat against Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s Officer on Special Duty Lokesh Sharma, Sharma’s lawyers Wednesday said that as per Delhi Police itself, none of the intercepted phone numbers belong to the Union Minister.
During the hearing in the Delhi High Court by Justice Vikas Mahajan on Wednesday, Sharma’s lawyer Siddharth Agarwal said that as per the status report filed by the Delhi Police, the conference call which was intercepted/tapped was between three numbers. These three numbers belong to Sanjay Baradiya alias Sanjay Jain, Rampal Singh of Rajasthan and Nagendra Singh of MP.
Sharma’s lawyers said that since none of the three numbers belong to Shekhawat, he can’t claim his phone was tapped. They also questioned how the Delhi Police lodged an FIR in the matter, considering that all three numbers belong to people outside Delhi and the incident happened in Rajasthan.
Agarwal said the incident took place in July 2020 but the FIR was lodged by Shekhawat eight months later in March 2021, and no reason has been given for the delay so far.
He also said that in its reply, the Rajasthan government has already disclosed that the phones were legally intercepted, and so the department officials may be responsible for it but Lokesh Sharma can’t be held responsible for phone tapping.
On the other hand, senior advocate Sanjay Jain accused Sharma and the Rajasthan government of not cooperating and demanded that the stay on his arrest be removed. The hearing could not be completed Wednesday and has been listed for October 18.
Meanwhile, Sharma also skipped summons by the Delhi Police on Wednesday. Sources said that he had replied to the notice in writing.
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