Rajasthan: Sanjay Jain Held; BJP Files Plaint Against Cong Leaders

This comes amid the political crisis in Rajasthan, with CM Ashok Gehlot facing a rebellion from Sachin Pilot.

Sachin Pilot’s supporters has claimed that they have over 20 MLAs and that Ashok Gehlot’s government is in a minority

(Kamran Akhter/The Quint)

On Saturday, 18 July, a Jaipur court sent Sanjay Jain to four-day remand of Special Operations Group (SOG) team of Rajasthan Police.

On Friday, Rajasthan Police SOG had arrested Jain under charges of sedition and criminal conspiracy, for allegedly trying to topple the Rajasthan government.

This came amid the political crisis in Rajasthan, with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot facing a rebellion from his erstwhile deputy Sachin Pilot.

Jain was arrested under sections 124A (sedition) and 120B (punishment of criminal conspiracy) of Indian Penal Code (IPC), ANI reported. His arrest came soon after the SOG lodged two FIRs over a purported audio clip pertaining to a conspiracy to destabilise the Rajasthan government.

Meanwhile, BJP leader Laxmikant Bhardwaj on Friday filed a complaint against Congress leaders Randeep Surjewala and Govind Singh Dotasra, among others, over the allegedly manufactured audio clip and 'false statements' by the Congress.

"Mahesh Joshi, Randeep Surjewala, and other accused have regularly been giving false and inflammatory statements against the BJP to criminally damage its reputation so that the blame for the current sorry state of affairs of the Congress can be pinned on the BJP. With the ill-intention of damaging the BJP’s reputation, a conspiracy was formed at the chief minister's residence...," Bhardwaj wrote in the letter to the police, reported ANI.

Union Minister Named in the Congress FIRs

Rajasthan Congress chief whip Mahesh Joshi reportedly said on Friday that rebel MLA Bhanwar Lal Sharma, Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, and Jain have been named in the FIRs. However, Joshi said that he had only mentioned the name of Gajendra Singh.

“There were two complaints from Mahesh Joshi (Congress leader), it is with respect to the audio that went viral yesterday. We registered two FIRs under section 124A and 120B. The veracity of clip to be investigated.”

Ashoke Rathore, Additional Director General (ADG)

According to PTI, while Congress' Surjewala had referred to Jain as a BJP leader, the charge was denied by the saffron party.

Citing the audio tapes, Congress Spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said on Friday that the BJP was conspiring to grab power in Rajasthan.

“BJP has breached trust of people. Audio clip reveals horse-trading deal,” Surjewala said. “Modi government and BJP are conspiring to grab power instead of fighting the coronavirus pandemic,” he added.

Surjewala demanded a response from Sachin Pilot on allegations of providing the list of MLAs to BJP. He had also demanded that Congress MLA Bhanwar Lal Sharma and Jain should be booked.

Surjewala further announced that the Congress party has both suspended Bhanwar Lal Sharma and Vishvendra Singh from the party’s membership, as well as issued show cause notices against them.

(With inputs from NDTV, PTI, ANI)