Ashok Gehlot's OSD Lokesh Sharma appears before Delhi Police in phone tapping case

New Delhi: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's Officer On Special Duty (OSD) Lokesh Sharma appeared before Delhi Police's Crime Branch on Tuesday for interrogation in connection with a phone tapping case, officials said.

Sharma received a notice from the crime branch on Monday, shortly after the election code of conduct came into force.

The Delhi Police registered an FIR on March 25, 2021, against Sharma on charges of criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and unlawfully intercepting telegraphic signals (telephonic conversation) based on a complaint by Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, the BJP MP from Jodhpur.

Sharma moved the Delhi High Court, seeking quashing of the FIR. The court on June 3, 2021, gave an interim stay on coercive action against Sharma which is continuing. The Delhi High Court is scheduled to hear on October 11 the crime branch's application seeking vacating of an interim order staying coercive action against him.

He was recently made the co-chairman of the Congress Central War Room for the Rajasthan assembly election. Sharma is also seeking a Congress ticket from the Bikaner West seat.