Samosas for Himachal Chief Minister served to his security staff, CID probe on

The alleged incident took place on October 21, when Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu visited the CID headquarters in Shimla.

In Short

• Incident happened on October 21 when Sukhvinder Sukhu visited CID office
• CID calls the incident anti-government, done under an agenda
• BJP hits out at Congress for Sukhu government's CID probe order

A rather unusual investigation was ordered by the Himachal Pradesh government after samosa and cakes meant for Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu were served to his security staff instead.

Terming the incident that took place on October 21 when Sukhu visited the CID headquarters 'anti-government', an official said that this has been done under a set agenda.

As per the information, at least three boxes of samosas were brought from Hotel Radisson Blue as a refreshment that was to be served to Chief Minister Sukhu, who visited the CID headquarters to attend an event.

During the investigation, CID officials said that when they asked the tourism department employees on duty whether the food items kept in these boxes were to be served to the Chief Minister, they got the answer that they were not on his menu.

It has also been said in the investigation report that some officials were made in-charge of the arrangements for refreshments meant for the staff accompanying the Chief Minister. A woman official said that she was not aware that the items inside these three boxes were to be served to the Chief Minister Sukhu and those three boxes were handed over to the MT section without opening them.

According to the statement of the officers in-charge, the food items kept in the boxes were served with tea to 10-12 people sitting in the IG's room on his orders.

Based on the statements of all the witnesses in the case, it was found that only an SI rank officer knew about these three boxes which were brought from Hotel Radisson and contained the samosas.

Despite this, the boxes were sent by a woman officer of Inspector rank after the arrival of the Chief Minister. These boxes were opened in the presence of an SI rank officer and the food items were served to the Chief Minister's staff. The woman officer of Inspector rank handed over these items to the MT section without asking any higher officer.

However, the Congress party has denied claims of a CID probe being ordered into the incident, saying that the investigation agency is pursuing the matter as per its own accord.

"The government did not order any such investigation, and it has nothing to do with this matter. The CID is investigating the matter at its own level. After all, who was given the refreshments served to the Chief Minister?," Naresh Chauhan, the chief media advisor to Sukhu said.

Chauhan also hit back at the BJP and said that they are unnecessarily blowing up the issue. "Because the BJP does not have any issues, hence false propaganda is being done against the Congress government through this issue," he added.

Meanwhile, Himachal Pradesh DG CID Sanjeev Ranjan echoed Chauhan's statement and said that the state government ordered no such probe.

"The Chief Minister was our chief guest for a function. When the function was over, officers were sitting and having tea and someone told that some stuff was brought and what happened to that, just find out. It was just this only, and it is purely an internal matter of the CID. It is sad and unfortunate that it has been blown out of proportion and politicised. It is unfortunate that people who have nothing to do with this are targeted," Ranjan said.

No action has been taken on this and no notice has been issued, he added.

Earlier, taking potshots at the Sukhu government in the state, Opposition party BJP said that ordering a CID probe shows that the Congress is only concerned about the 'Chief Minister's' samosa and not the state's development.

"The government is not concerned about the development of the state and its only concern seems to be the Chief Minister's Samosa," said BJP chief spokesperson Randhir Sharma in a statement issued on Thursday.

"This incident has become a topic of discussion in the political circles of Himachal Pradesh. In fact, the government machinery is embarrassed due to such coordination problems in a programme related to a VVIP like the Chief Minister", Sharma added.