Gagret MLA’s father, legislator Ashish get pre-arrest bail

The Himachal Pradesh high court on Tuesday granted interim anticipatory bail to Gagret MLA Chaitanya Sharma’s father Rakesh Sharma and Hamirpur independent MLA Ashish Sharma. Justice Ranjan Sharma, after the preliminary hearing of the anticipatory bail petition, ordered both applicants to register their presence at the Boileauganj police station on March 15 and cooperate with the investigation.

Himachal Pradesh Police on Sunday registered a case against Rakesh Sharma and Ashish Sharma over “electoral offences” during the recent Rajya Sabha polls for the lone vacant seat in the state.

The development came almost two weeks after the chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led Congress government plunged into a political crisis after the loss of the lone vacant Rajya Sabha seat in the state. A case under sections 171 A and C (undue influence on elections) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and sections 7 and 8 (public servant taking undue advantage) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, was registered against Ashish Sharma and former Uttarakhand chief secretary Rakesh Sharma.

The case was registered at the Boileuaganj police station on a complaint filed by Manali MLA Bhubaneswar Gaur and chief parliamentary secretary and Arki legislator Sanjay Awasthi. Awasthi and Gaur are close associates of Sukhu.

Congress candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi had lost to Bharatiya Janata party’s Harsh Mahajan after six MLAs of the grand old party cross voted in favour of Mahajan.