By IANS,
Shimla : The Himachal Pradesh police Saturday gave a clean chit to the accused in a high-profile “call girl episode”, saying nothing objectionable was found against them nor had they committed any offence.
A senior leader of the state ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government had already resigned from his party post after the opposition Congress raked up his alleged involvement in the call girl racket in a posh hotel here earlier this month.
Director General of Police (Vigilance) D.S. Manhas told reporters here: “There was nothing objectionable during the inquiry, so no cognizable offence has been made out against the accused. The probe is closed now.”
As the name of BJP functionary Rajinder Rana surfaced in the racket, he resigned from the post of chairman of the party’s media advisory committee.
Suresh Attari, a senior government functionary, and Anil Sharma, an official of a private company, were also accused in the case.
Manhas said during the police raid, all the three accused were in one room and the girls were in another.
“We have checked the antecedents of both the girls (who were present in the hotel) with the Punjab police and found that they do not have any criminal record,” he said. He, however, refused to disclose their identity.
The government has already removed Attari from the post of member secretary of the environment impact assessment committee in the environment department.
Reacting to the clean chit to the accused, the opposition Congress has demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the scandal.
Congress state chief Kaul Singh Thakur said: “The government has hushed up the matter to save its skin.”
He said a Cabinet-rank minister and some senior officials of the state pollution control board were present when the police raided the hotel.
“We are still demanding a CBI probe into the incident,” he added.