‘Surprised that no action has been taken’: Ashok Gehlot’s former OSD on phone‑tapping case

The highly controversial phone-tapping case is back into spotlight in Rajasthan as Ashok Gehlot’s ex-Officer on Special Duty (OSD), Lokesh Sharma, has demanded that investigating agencies summon and question the former chief minister.

Sharma has claimed that he has submitted enough evidence to police linking the senior Congress leader to the alleged surveillance operation.

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Speaking to IANS, Sharma said he was surprised to see that no major action has been taken against Gehlot even after he submitted substantial evidence to the Delhi Police.

“It has been quite some time since I submitted the entire data related to the alleged phone tapping. I am surprised that no action has been taken on those facts,” Sharma told the new agency.

Sharma was arrested in 2021 in connection with the phone-tapping case. The matter came to light after a complaint was filed by Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. The former OSD was later granted anticipatory bail in the case.

To support his allegations, Sharma had in 2024 submitted a mobile phone, a pen drive and a laptop along with a detailed statement to the Delhi Police Crime Branch.

The report highlights that Sharma’s seven-page statement details events that allegedly took place on July 16, 2020. He stated that the then Chief Minister of Rajasthan had handed him a pen drive containing recorded conversations and asked him to circulate the auto clips in media.

“I have submitted all evidence in support of my statement. Ashok Gehlot should now be called for interrogation,” Sharma stated.

What happened in 2020?

The case is related to the intense power struggle within the Congress in 2020. At that time, then Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot rebelled against Gehlot-led government with the support of 18 MLAs. This had pushed the Congress-led government to the brink, besides sparking a major political battle between the two leaders.

The Gehlot-led government had came out with audio clips that allegedly revealed attempts to topple the then state government via political manoeuvring and alleged horse-trading.

However, the matter soon turned into a major controversy as leaders from the Pilot camp as well as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) started questioning how the Gehlot government obtained the conversations in the first place.

Later on, allegations were made that the government illegally tapped phones of political leaders, legislators, and others. This ultimately led the Ministry of Home Affairs to seek a report from the then Congress government in Rajasthan.

The Rajasthan Police denied the claims of tapping the phones of MLAs and MPs and dismissed them as “baseless.”

At that time, the Gehlot government failed to specify the telephone numbers that were intercepted. It only stated that “interception cases are reviewed by the Chief Secretary, Rajasthan, who presides [over the meetings] as per rules. All cases till November 2020 have been reviewed.”