Citing health reasons, disqualified MLA Chaitanya’s father, Independent legislator Ashish express inability to appear before Shimla police
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FIR was lodged against duo on charges of alleged horse-trading, bid to topple Himachal govt
TNR Desk
Rakesh Sharma, the father of rebel Himachal Pradesh Congress MLA from Gagret Chaitanya Sharma, and independent MLA from Hamirpur Ashish Sharma have expressed their inability to appear in Boileauganj police station in Shimla on Friday (March 15) due to health reasons, according to reliable sources.
The sources said Rakesh Sharma, a former Uttarakhand Chief Secretary, and Ashish had informed the police that they were hospitalised. An FIR was recently lodged against both at the Boileauganj police station in connection with alleged horse-trading during the recent Rajya Sabha election and efforts to destabilise the state government.
The case was registered under various sections, including 171A, 171C and 120B of the IPC and Sections 7 and 8 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
While Rakesh Sharma and Ashish had taken anticipatory bail from the Himachal Pradesh High Court on Tuesday, the High Court has granted them conditional bail, asking them to appear before the police on Friday.
Jointly filed by Congress MLA and Chief Parliamentary Secretary Sanjay Awasthi and Manali MLA Bhuvneshwar Gaur, the complaint outlined a series of alleged activities aimed at influencing the outcome of the recent Rajya Sabha election and impeding the passage of the Finance Bill during the Vidhan Sabha budget session.
According to the complainants, extensive measures, including the use of helicopters, paramilitary forces and outside vehicles, were undertaken to allegedly topple the state government.
Responding to the development, Chaitanya asserted that the accusations against his father were politically motivated. He accused Chief Minister Sukhu of targeting him and five other MLAs unjustly. He claimed that harassment tactics, such as blocking access to their residences and assessing their properties, had been employed against them.
Chaitanya was part of six Congress disqualified MLAs, the others being Sudhir Sharma, Rajinder Rana, Ravi Thakur, ID Lakhanpal and Davinder Bhutto, who had cross-voted for BJP nominee Harsh Mahajan, leading to the defeat of Congress candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi in the Rajya Sabha election from the lone seat in Himachal Pradesh.
Three independent MLA, including Ashish, too had sided with the BJP. The six Congress rebels and the three Independent MLAs are learnt to be currently holed up in a Delhi hotel. The Congress had alleged huge sums of money had exchanged hands during the election.
