Principal Secretary (Commercial Tax) Manu Shrivastava told The Indian Express that an inquiry has been ordered to find if the audio clip is genuine.(Representational Image)The Congress government has ordered an inquiry into a purported audio recording of an excise officer’s phone conversation with a whistleblower about a minister and two Congress legislators allegedly taking money from a liquor contractor in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh.
The recording, purportedly of Dhar excise officer Sanjeev Dubey and Anand Rai, one of the whistleblowers in the Vyapam scam, surfaced after Forest Minister Umang Singhar accused former chief minister Digvijaya Singh of blackmailing the Kamal Nath government and patronising illegal liquor trade and sand mining.
Principal Secretary (Commercial Tax) Manu Shrivastava told The Indian Express that an inquiry has been ordered to find if the audio clip is genuine.
In the 74-second recording, Dubey alleges that a contractor is paying Singhar and Rajyavardhan Singh Dattigaon (Congress MLA from Badnawar) but is not ready to pay more money to Hiralal Alawa (Congress MLA from Manawar).
After the clip went viral on Wednesday, Chief Minister Kamal Nath summoned the minister and the two MLAs, and later ordered Dubey’s removal from the district.
When contacted, Rai neither confirmed nor denied that it was his voice in the audio. Singhar, Rajyavardhan and Alawa denied the allegations. They said they had asked questions in the Assembly in February and demanded Dubey’s removal.
