Kota (Raj), Oct 27 Congress leader Prahlad Gunjal was booked on charge of extortion after the emergence of a video clip of him purportedly threatening Rajiv Dutta, Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, police said on Tuesday.
Gunjal, a two-time BJP MLA, joined Congress in March 2024 and contested the general election the same year, with Birla as the other key rival candidate.
The FIR against him stems from a gathering in Kolana village in Pipalda Tehsial of Kota district held on October 21.
Gunjal was recorded allegedly threatening Rajiv Dutta, saying that he, Gunjal, would make him so out of sorts that he would contemplate suicide.
The 1.16-minute clip, shot at night with only a halogen bulb as the sole light source, hardly lit the speaker’s face as he made the threat.
“(They) ruin our reputation in front of those people… who act like absolute toadies. A worthless station house officer on Guru Purnima touched the feet, applied tilak, and published photos that became viral all over Rajasthan. Shameful, absolutely shameful, on social media.
“Datta ji is our guru. What is Dutta and the kind of hooliganism Datta is doing? I am telling this in front of so many people: Let the government change. I will ruin Datta’s life to such an extent that he will stay sitting at home contemplating whether to commit suicide or grab a gun and shoot someone. I will ruin his life in such a way that he will sit alone in a room and think either to kill himself or kill someone else. I will do it.
“These people have committed such a great sin. They ruined the lives of so many people and uprooted them. What did they just do to your village?” the person purported to be Gunjal said.
The legal action was initiated at the complaint of Constable Pushpendra Chaudhary, leading the police to lodge charges under various sections the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) alongwith sections of the Representation of the People Act.
Investigators have secured a pen drive containing the video footage as primary evidence.
Kota City Superintendent of Police (SP) Tejeshwani Gautam said the case was lodged at Ranpur Police Station and asked the reporter to speak to SHO Ramesh Kavia. When contacted, Kavia directed the reporter to speak to the SP.
Kota City ASP Subash Mishra, meanwhile, said the police would release a press note in the evening. No press release was released till late night.
Gunjal defended his statements saying it was nothing new. “Prahalad Gunjal is not going to get distracted from all these,” he said.
(PTI News)
