Rajasthan police book Pilot�s media aide for �false story�

8-Oct-2020

About two months after Sachin Pilot returned to the ruling Congress, the Rajasthan police on Wednesday (October 7) booked his media aide, Lokendra Singh, who also runs a private news agency, for putting out a �false story� of Congress MLAs� phones being tapped when the leadership crisis was at its peak. The MLAs had been sent to a resort in Jaisalmer. The police accuse Lokendra of spreading wrong information without verifying facts. The police have also booked another journalist, Sharat Kumar, who works for a news channel and anchors a YouTube channel. Lokendra Singh has been booked under the IT Act. Singh handles media interviews of Sachin Pilot and is also the group admin of a WhatsApp group that shares Pilot-related news and daily programs with the media in the state. Former Deputy CM and state party chief Sachin Pilot had openly revolted against CM Ashok Gehlot and shifted to a private hotel in Manesar along with his 18 MLAs. Gehlot had sent his loyalist MLAs to Jaisalmer to secure them against horse-trading. There were allegations, which Gehlot refuted, that phones of Congress MLAs in Jaisalmer were being tapped. The FIR said the investigation began after the police control room�s social media cell found that the news of tapping had been sourced from a WhatsApp group. Lokendra Singh has alleged political vendetta. �The national channels had already run the news over three hours before we carried the story. I have provided a video document of that,� he said.