By Ram Kumar Kaushik
The claim of sacked minister Rajendra Gudha that he has a ‘Lal diary' in his possession which has detail of gory cash transactions involving chief minister Ashok Gehlot and his son Vaibhav Gehlot looks frivolous and imaginary. His allegations on Gehlot about the suspected distribution of cash to MLAs for support when Gehlot government was struggling for majority on the pretext of rebellion by Sachin Pilot in 2020 has no evidence but for the mysterious ‘Lal diary'. Gudha claims that the diary was in the custody of Income department during the raid conducted at the flat of Gehlot's confidante Dharmendra Rathore. Gudha alleges that Gehlot asked him to recover the diary breaking the security envelope of CRPF.
“I went on the ninth floor of Somdatta apartment and brought back the diary in a filmy style dodging past 150 CRPF jawans. Gehlot showered praises on me and said, “Gudha you should have been in Hollywood.” Gehlot later announced publicly that had Gudha not been there, I would not have been chief minister,” Gudha claimed.
Charges of impropriety on Gudha
If Gudha illegally sneaked past the security cover of CRPF to bring the evidence (Lal diary), it's a criminal act of breaking into the protected zone and distorting the evidence.
“The central agencies should act fast and arrest Gudha for interfering in their investigation and destroying the evidence. Since Gudha has publicly accepted the ‘crime', they (central agencies) should take action suo moto,” said Ram Pal Singh, a lawyer practising in Rajasthan High Court.
He said that Gudha's statement that he dodged past 150 CRPF jawans and got hold of the Lal diary breaking the tight security itself makes mockery of alertness and sincerity of the central force.
“How can a person illegally enter the protected area manned by a trained security force? Gudha's claim questions the integrity of the force. It's a matter of high level probe,” Singh said.
Double Crossing Gehlot
Gudha said that Gehlot entrusted him with destroying the ‘Lal diary' after recovering it from Rathore's flat. He said that Gehlot asked him to burn the diary to flames.
“Had there been nothing in that diary, why Gehlot would have asked me to burn the diary,” asked Gudha.
However, it seems Gudha double crossed chief minister Gehlot and preserved the alleged ‘Lal diary', probably to blackmail later.
“It shows the intention of Gudha and in such circumstances it seems that Gudha is just trying to sensationalise things to get the public focus on him. Since he finds himself is out of favour, Gudha is trying to sabotage the campaign of mehngai camp, which is shaping well ahead of elections,” said Rajendra Singh Batwara, a political analyst.
Does the diary look three-year old?
Gudha flashed ‘Lal diary' in front of assembly speaker C P Joshi. The scene caught eyes of everyone present in the assembly. Gudha claimed that the diary was the same which he had recovered from Rathore's house. That meant that the diary was at least 3 years old. A look at the photograph of this diary in Gudha's hand doesn't seem to testify . It looks like newly bought diary with fresh leaves.
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