New Delhi/Jaipur, July 21, 2020 –
Amid the political crisis in Rajasthan, officials of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday questioned Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s OSD Devalal Saini and Congress MLA and former Olympian Krishna Poonia in connection with the suicide case of a police officer, official sources said on Tuesday.
“A team of CBI officials from Delhi questioned Saini in Jaipur in connection with the suicide of Vishnu Dutt Vishnoi, who was the SHO of Rajgarh police station in Churu district,” a CBI source in Delhi told.
The source further said that after questioning Saini for over two hours, the agency sleuths went to the residence of Poonia in Jaipur to quiz her again. Poonia, a Congress MLA from the Sadulpur constituency in Churu district, was questioned for over four hours on Monday.
Former discus thrower Poonia is a three-time Olympian, Padma Shri and Arjuna Award winner, and a gold medalist at the 2010 Asian Games.
The development comes at a time when the Gehlot government is facing a rebellion by party leader Sachin Pilot and his supporting MLAs. Pilot was sacked as Deputy Chief Minister and Rajasthan Congress chief on July 14.
The Rajasthan government, in an order issued on Monday, said that the officials of the CBI will not be allowed in Rajasthan without the permission of the state government.
The decision of the Gehlot government was taken a day after the Union Ministry of Home Affairs on Sunday summoned the state government in the alleged phone tapping case.
Vishnoi was found hanging at his government residence on May 23. The CBI had registered a case on June 26 against unknown persons following Rajasthan government’s request. The state had opted for a CBI probe on June 6.
In a suicide note addressed to the Churu Superintendent of Police, the SHO had said he was not able to “bear the pressure created around him”.
A screenshot of a WhatsApp chat between the SHO and his activist friend had gone viral wherein the police officer claimed that he was “being trapped in dirty politics at the local level”. (Agency)
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