Lokesh showed the pen drive to the media and claimed, “I did not get the audio clip from social media. The then chief minister Ashok Gehlot had given me all these audio clips through this pen drive and asked me to broadcast them in the media. I followed his instructions.

Till now lokesh has been saying that he got this alleged clip through social media, which he further sent to the media. Now he has directly held Gehlot responsible for providing the clip. On march 25, 2021, delhi Police registered an FIR against lokesh Sharma on charges of criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and illegally recording conversations on the complaint of Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.

Lokesh had approached the delhi High court demanding cancellation of the FIR. On june 3, 2021, the court put an interim stay on the punitive action against Sharma, which is still ongoing. lokesh has appeared before delhi Police for questioning. lokesh told reporters that he considered it his duty to follow Gehlot's instructions and did not reveal the source of the audio clip despite being interrogated by the crime branch. He said that when the case was registered against him, he was assured of full cooperation by Gehlot, but he was ignored and faced mental torture due to the case and interrogation. He said, “On July 16, 2020, the then chief minister Ashok Gehlot came to Hotel Fairmont located on the Jaipur-Delhi National Highway where congress MLAs from his camp were staying after the political crisis. He left the hotel at around four in the evening. Later I got a call from Gehlot's PSO Ramniwas that Gehlot was calling me to the Chief Minister's residence.

Sharma claimed, “When I reached the Chief Minister's residence, Gehlot gave me this pen drive which had three audio clips and gave me a paper which had a copy of the audio clip. He asked me to broadcast it in the media.” He said that from the Chief Minister's office he went to his home and put the audio clip in his laptop and from the laptop to his mobile phone and then broadcast it in the media.