Ex-OSD to Ashok Gehlot held in phone-tapping case granted bail

    New Delhi, Nov 25 (PTI) Delhi Police has arrested Lokesh Sharma, the former OSD to ex-Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, in a phone-tapping case of 2020 based on a complaint lodged by Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, officials said on Monday.
    However, Sharma was granted bail by a local court soon after his arrest by the Crime Branch, police said.
    In April this year, Sharma claimed that Gehlot gave him audio clips of purported telephonic conversations between Shekhawat and some Congress leaders discussing "toppling" the then Congress government in Rajasthan in 2020, when the state faced a political crisis.
    Police sources said the former officer on special duty (OSD) to Gehlot came to Delhi on Sunday night after being summoned by the Crime Branch.
    In March 2021, Shekhawat lodged a complaint with the Crime Branch alleging illegal phone-tapping by the Gehlot-led Rajasthan government.
    Sharma was accused of illegally recording telephone conversations, which were later leaked to the media.
    Based on Shekhawat's complaint, Delhi Police registered an FIR against Sharma in March 2021 on charges of criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, and unlawful interception of telegraphic signals (telephone conversations).
    Subsequently, the Crime Branch questioned Sharma multiple times in the past over three years at its office in Rohini.
    Initially, Sharma told the police that he got the audio clips of Shekhawat's purported conversations with some Congress leaders from social media. But later he claimed that Gehlot gave him a pen drive that contained the alleged clips.
    As per official sources, Sharma has been cooperating with the investigation by providing information and documents related to the case.
    "I have submitted all the details related to the phone-tapping case. I have maintained since the beginning that I did not have any role in this case. It was not in my jurisdiction to tap someone's phone. Ashok Gehlot, who was the chief minister then, himself gave me a pen drive containing the clips which I made viral on his direction," Sharma told mediapersons in September this year.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)