At Manesar resort housing rebel Congress MLAs, Haryana cops stop Rajasthan counterparts

GURUGRAM: A team of the Special Operations Group (SOG) of Rajasthan police, which visited a resort in Manesar on Friday to take the statements of dissident Congress MLAs, took more than an hour just to gain entry into the premises as Haryana police claimed they had not been informed about the visit in advance.
The rebel MLAs, supporting Rajasthan’s former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot, have been camping at the ITC Grand Bharat resort for the past one week. On Thursday, an audio clip had surfaced in which they were purportedly heard talking to BJP leaders about horse-trading of legislators to topple the Gehlot government in Rajasthan. According to sources, the SOG team was in Haryana to collect the MLAs’ voice samples.
The four-member Rajasthan team, headed by IPS Vikas Sharma, reached the resort around 6.23pm. When it tried to enter, it was stopped by a security guard posted there. Within a few minutes, an officer of Haryana police reached the gate and requested the Rajasthan cops to stay out of the premises.
Soon thereafter, about 50 Haryana cops reached the spot and formed a human chain to prevent the SOG team from entering the resort. The media was kept at a distance. After nearly one hour of intense discussions and multiple phone calls, the SOG team was allowed entry around 7.30pm. It emerged from the venue around 8.15pm and left.
Earlier in the day, Rajasthan Congress chief whip Mahesh Joshi submitted two complaints to the SOG, on the basis of which two FIRs were registered under IPC sections 124A (sedition) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) against unknown persons. Three people were named in the complaint -- MLA Bhanwar Lal Sharma, Union minister Gajender Singh Shekhawat and one Sanjay Jain, who is said to be close to the BJP. The Congress has suspended Sharma and another rebel MLA, Vishvendra Pratap Singh, whose voices are allegedly on the tapes.
“The MLAs at the resort are under the protection of the BJP government of Haryana. New audio has surfaced and needs to be investigated. For this, police will have to record the statements of the MLAs,” a Congress leader said, not wishing to be named.
Haryana BJP spokesperson Raman Mallik said the Rajasthan police team was stopped because it came without informing local police.
“Haryana police, under chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar and home minister Anil Vij, follows due process of law and works without any political pressure. On the other hand, Rajasthan police, under chief minister and home minister Ashok Gehlot, is acting like rogue police,” said Malik.