Reports emerged on Friday claiming that Himachal Pradesh's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) launched an investigation to determine how samosas and cake intended for Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu were mistakenly served to his security staff. The goof-up snowballed into a controversy.
The incident happened at the CID headquarters on October 21. According to news agency PTI, three boxes of samosas and cakes were brought from a hotel in Lakkar Bazaar to be served to the chief minister who had gone to the CID headquarters for a function on October 21.
However, the samosas and cakes were served to the CM's security staff, according to the enquiry report conducted by a deputy SP rank officer. Lack of coordination was cited as a reason.
The report stated that an officer of Inspector General rank had asked a sub-inspector (SI) of police to get some snacks from the hotel for the CM's visit.
The SI, in turn, directed an assistant SI (ASI) and a head constable to bring the refreshments. The ASI and the head constable fetched the refreshments from the hotel in three sealed boxes and informed the SI.
The police officers reportedly said when they asked the tourism department staff on duty whether the snacks in the three boxes were to be served to the chief minister, they said they were not included in the menu.
The enquiry report mentioned that only the said SI, who deputed the ASI and the head constable with the task of getting the snacks from the hotel, was aware of the fact that the three boxes were for CM Sukhu.
The woman inspector, to whom the food items were handed over, did not ask any senior officer and sent the refreshments to the mechanical transport (MT) section which deals with refreshments.
A highly placed official in the CID department wrote in his note that all persons named in the enquiry report have acted in anti-CID and anti-government manner due to which the items could not be served to the VVIPs, PTI reported. "They acted according to their own agenda," the note added.
Leader of Opposition in the state assembly Jai Ram Thakur said in a video statement on Friday, "The opposition has not eaten those samosas, those who were served those samosas were a part of the government, so how could the act be anti-government?" He said the state government and the chief minister must have found the matter serious and thus, an inquiry was conducted into the samosa episode.
The alleged incident, which took place during a programme at the CID headquarters, led to a full inquiry to understand which officers and staff members were responsible for the oversight, ANI reported. DGP Atul Verma was quoted as saying that the CID is investigating the matter, not the police headquarters.
The media advisor to the chief minister, Naresh Chauhan, claimed the state government did not order any inquiry and it could be an internal matter of the CID.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu said on Friday, "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."
In a recent interview to ANI, Sukhu said, "There is no such thing... It (CID) got involved on the issue of misbehavior, but you [the media] are running news about 'samosa'."
Sukhu also accused the BJP of running a campaign to run down his government since 'Operation Lotus' to dislodge his government failed.
Amid the "samosa controversy", Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu told India Today that this issue is very childish and said he doesn't eat samosa because of health issues. He burst into laughter while reacting to the controversy.
Further, Sanjeev Ranjan Ojha, Deputy General CID. said that it was an internal matter of the CID and should not be politicised. "This is completely an internal matter of the CID. It should not be politicised. The CM does not eat samosas... We have not given notice to anyone," Ojha said.
He added that the government has nothing to do with this. "We will find out how this information was leaked," Ojha said.
Former Himachal Pradesh BJP chief Satpal Satti claimed the Congress government has become a "laughing stock" for ordering an "inquiry into samosas". "The police should focus on the many scandals, from the CM’s office to the secretariat, instead of wasting their time on petty matters," Satti was quoyed by PTI as saying.
"It is surprising to hold an inquiry into such a small issue and then term the mistake as anti-government. I feel the Congress government is not bothered about the people, as their main concern is how samosas are being served at their functions. This government has totally failed and become a laughing stock," Satti said.
