Shimla, Feb 22 (NationPress) After months of controversy over samosas meant for Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu that were served to his security staff during an event at CID headquarters here, the local police have registered a first information report (FIR) against unknown for theft, forgery, public mischief and criminal conspiracy for leaking information and documents from the CID Department.
The Superintendent of Police, in a complaint, said it has come to notice that confidential information and documents from the CID have been unlawfully leaked and are being misused to tarnish the reputation of the CID and the government.
Responding to the gastronomic trouble that hogged nationwide media glare, Leader of Opposition and former Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said on Saturday that the government has become directionless, chaotic and dictatorial.
"The police department has created a ruckus because the Chief Minister could not get a samosa. The resources and energy of the government were wasted in investigating who ate the samosa and now the resources are being wasted in finding out who leaked the state CID samosa scandal or who reported it in the media and why?" Thakur said in a statement here.
Based on the complaint, the FIR has been registered under several sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita (BNS) of 2023 at the police station in Chotta Shimla in which it was alleged that someone had unlawfully leaked CID's confidential information.
BJP leader Thakur said the FIR lodged by the CID in the case is ridiculous and a planned conspiracy. Section 353(2) mentioned in the FIR is an attempt to impose restrictions on the media.
"This FIR is an attack on the media freedom. By using this, the government wants to send a message to the media that the government will not spare anyone who writes about their failures. Till now, the government has lodged more than two dozen FIRs against media personnel as well as the common man for writing against the government. Now the government has brought the samosa incident into the limelight to collectively target media personnel and the common man," he said.
He said the freedom of expression of media personnel and the common man is their fundamental right granted by the Constitution, which the Sukhu government wants to snatch away.
"On this dictatorial tactics of the Congress government, the party and its leader Rahul Gandhi, who is pretending to save the Constitution, should also answer how can the government of his ruling party violate the fundamental rights of the people”.
Thakur said it has been stated in the FIR that sensitive matters "are repeatedly leaked to the media".
"The Chief Minister should clarify how many such matters have already been leaked to the media and what are the threats to the sovereignty and internal security of the state due to them. The Chief Minister should also explain what kind of secrecy is there in the investigation of who ate his samosas and how is it related to public interest," Thakur added.
The FIR has been registered under Sections 59 (public servant concealing design to commit an offence which it is his duty to prevent), 60 (concealing plans to commit a crime), 61 (criminal conspiracy), 305 (theft of government property), 336 (4) (forgery with the intent to harm someone’s reputation) and 353 (2) (punishing individuals who make, publish, or circulate false information, rumours, or statements) of the BNS.
