Rajasthan Police seek CCTV footage, guest list from Manesar hotel to trace MLA Bhanwarlal Sharma

In their search for Sachin Pilot-loyalist MLA Bhanwarlal Sharma, accused of attempting to topple the Congress government in Rajasthan, the police’s Special Operation Group has sought CCTV footage and guest list from a Manesar hotel to trace him. The SOG has registered an FIR against Bhanwarlal Sharma, Gajendra Singh and one Sanjay Jain on the basis of a complaint lodged by Congress Chief Whip Mahesh Joshi who had submitted audio clips as evidence of them plotting to bring down the government. “We sent the requisition a couple of days ago to the hotel but there has been no response so far. We have asked for CCTV footage and details of guests list,” a senior official of SOG said here on Saturday. A few days ago, the Special Operations Group (SOG) was sent to a hotel in BJP-ruled Haryana’s Manesar in Gurgaon to seek the dissident MLA’s version in connection with an FIR lodged over the audio clips. The team was stopped outside the hotel for about an hour by Haryana policemen deployed there. The Rajasthan police were let in later, but told at the reception that the MLA was not staying there, and they returned, the unit’s Additional Director General Ashok Rathore had said. The Congress had cited two audio clips on social media and demanded the arrest of Union minister Gajendra Shekhawat, alleging that he is heard in one of them during a conversation on a plot to bring down the Congress government in the state. In an FIR lodged with the Rajasthan police, the party had also alleged that Bhanwarlal Sharma too was heard in the audio clip. The complaint by Congress chief whip Mahesh Joshi mentioned “Gajendra Singh” but stopped short of identifying him as the Union minister. Both Shekhawat and Bhanwarlal Sharma have rejected the allegations. Sanjay Jain, the third man mentioned in the audio clips has been arrested.