All you need to know about the high profile Antagarh Tape Kaand of Chhattisgarh

Chhattisgarh’s Bhupesh Govt. has given the inquiry orders, Raipur’s SP to lead the Investigation
As and when it happened
• In the Vidhan sabha Elections of 2014, BJP Candidate Bhojraj Nag emerged victorious in the insurgency affected Antagarh Assembly by poll elections in Chhattisgarh.
• The By-Election was necessitated after BJP Legislator Vikram Usendi was elected to the Lok Sabha from Kanker seat.
• The Congress which was struggling after facing a humiliating loss both in Lok sabha and Vidhan Sabha Elections in Chhattisgarh had declared Manturam Pawar as its candidate from the seat anticipating a good show.
• However, Mr Pawar surprisingly pulled out from the contest before the last day of withdrawal of nominations following which he was expelled from the party.
• Even though 14 candidates had filed their nominations, post scrutiny and withdrawal of nominations, only to candidates remained- Bhojraj Nag from BJP and Rupdhar Pudo from Ambedkarite Party of India.
• Quite expectedly, Bhojraj Nag pulled off the contest with a big margin and Manturam Pawar also joined the BJP.
All about the Scam
• The Congress straightaway alleged the BJP for using unfair means to bribe their candidate to withdraw his name.
• Famous English Daily ‘The Indian Express’ received a tape in 2015 which had the telephonic conversations between big names from both the parties and the negotiations among the candidate and the third person.
• The voices in the tape reportedly feature Ajit Jogi (former CM), Amit Jogi (son of Ajit Jogi), Dr Puneet Gupta (Son in law of the then CM Dr Raman Singh), Feroz Siddiqui (The negotiator and mastermind of the deal) and Ameen Memon (Then Jogi loyalist).
• A day after The Indian Express published a report on purported conversations between key political players of Chhattisgarh that suggest a financial deal could have led to the withdrawal of a Congress candidate from the Antagarh Assembly by-election in 2014 to let the BJP win, Rupdhar Pudo, the Ambedkarite Party of India candidate who lost the election, filed a police complaint alleging he was contacted by O P Gupta, personal secretary to Chief Minister Raman Singh, and told to withdraw from the fray in exchange for “anything”.
The Current Scanario
• The Newly elected Congress Government under CM Bhupesh Baghel had ordered for a SIT Investigation of the case earlier last month.
• Following the orders, the team first investigated the mastermind of the scam Feroze Siddiqui who revealed that the transactions involved hefty sums of 7 crores. He was also asked to submit the original tape of the conversation. The SIT plans to investigate the original tape of the scam as there are chances of adulterations to the existing tape.
• Next in SIT’s list was the accused candidate Manturam Pawar who was questioned for around 5 hours. Manturam accused Congress for all the harassment he has faced in the last 5 years and has said that he will file a case of Defamation when proven innocent.
• Raipur SP Neethu Kamal stated during her media interaction that the investigation has revealed many big names and in the forthcoming days, these names can be investigated too.
With so many twists and turns, the Antagarh Tape Scam has already increased the heat in the political setups around the state. It would be interesting to see what impact it has on the Lok Sabha elections which is just 2 months away.