The Rajasthan High Court has officially accepted the Anti-Corruption Bureau’s (ACB) closure report in the much-discussed conspiracy case involving allegations of attempts to topple the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government. With this order, the court has effectively cleared Sachin Pilot and other accused leaders, as investigators confirmed there was no evidence of bribery, horse-trading, or political conspiracy in the case.
The controversy dates back to July 2020, when the then Gehlot government had accused former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot and his associates of plotting to bring down the Congress administration. The Special Operations Group (SOG) initially registered the case under sedition after the arrest of two individuals, Bharat Malani and Ashok Singh, for allegedly attempting to bribe legislators. The charges were later extended to include Pilot, which further deepened the political rift between him and Gehlot, culminating in Pilot’s rebellion that shook Rajasthan politics at the time.
When the case was transferred to the ACB, officials undertook a detailed review of the intercepted phone calls that had been presented as evidence. Investigators concluded that the recordings reflected casual discussions on politics, gambling, and personal affairs, but carried no proof of any conspiracy to destabilize the government. A careful audit of the accused persons’ bank accounts and financial records also showed no questionable transactions that could have indicated bribery or inducements.
The agency also emphasized that no MLA ever came forward to claim being offered money or incentives to switch political loyalties. The allegation that independent MLA Ramila Khadia had been approached with financial offers was investigated and dismissed as false. Based on these findings, the ACB filed a final closure report, which the High Court has now formally accepted, bringing an end to years of speculation around the matter.
Following the ruling, the accused, including Bharat Singh of Udaipur and Bharat Malani of Beawar, stated that they had been falsely implicated to damage Pilot’s public image. Sachin Pilot himself, while choosing not to elaborate, remarked that he had not studied the court order in detail but maintained that if the case was deemed baseless, “that is correct.”
The case had taken several unexpected turns since its inception. While the SOG had initially dropped the matter in August 2020, citing jurisdictional limitations, it resurfaced almost immediately after a fresh complaint was lodged by former minister Mahesh Joshi, who was at the time lodged in jail in an unrelated corruption case. That development kept the matter alive until the closure report and the High Court’s acceptance of it now draw a definitive line under the episode.
This outcome not only brings relief to Sachin Pilot and his associates but also closes a politically sensitive chapter that once threatened the stability of the Rajasthan Congress government.
