Storm over 'no samosa for Himachal Chief Minister', CID says no probe amid row

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

In Short

• Chief Minister Sukhvinder Sukhu visited CID office on October 21
• Government, CID deny probe being ordered into samosas' disappearance
• BJP hits out at Sukhvinder Sukhu government for alleged CID probe

A controversy has erupted in Himachal Pradesh over samosas that apparently went missing from an event attended by state Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu. The event took place at the headquarters of the CID where boxes of snacks meant to be served to the Chief Minister went missing. The row snowballed over allegations that the CID had launched a probe to investigate the case of the missing samosas.

However, officials rejected the allegations, saying that no official probe had been instituted and that it was an “internal matter” that was being blown out of proportion. Sanjeev Ranjan Ojha, the director general of Himachal Pradesh CID, said it was a simple matter of a bunch of officers gathering for tea and wondering where boxes of snacks ordered for the event were.

Ojha said that no “probe” had been launched and all that happened was an appeal being made to find out what had happened to the boxes.

"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," Ojha said.

CHIEF MINISTER'S OFFICE SAYS NO CID PROBE ORDERED

The Chief Minister’s Office too denied that a probe had been ordered, with chief media advisor Naresh Chauhan saying that it was CID’s “internal matter”.

"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?," Chauhan 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.

Sukhu on Friday said the probe was not into samosas, but it was to ascertain "misbehaviour" of officials. He also termed as "childish" the BJP's attack on him over the issue, saying the BJP has been running a smear campaign against the Congress government in the state ever since it won 40 seats in the last Assembly elections.

"The probe was about misbehaviour of officials but the media has turned the CID probe into samosas. The DGP has already given a clarification in this regard," Sukhu told reporters in Shimla.

Sukhu also accused the BJP of running a campaign to run down his government since 'Operation Lotus' to dislodge his government failed.

"The BJP's behaviour in raking up this issue is childish and laughable," he said, adding that the BJP has been trying to tarnish his government's image ever since it failed in the assembly polls and subsequently also did not succeed in running it down.

WHAT IS THE CONTROVERSY ALL ABOUT

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

It was also said 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.

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 matter, 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.

BJP SLAMS CONGRESS

Taking potshots at the Sukhu government in the state, the Opposition 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 spokesperson Randhir Sharma in a statement 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.

(with inputs from PTI)