An audio clip surfaced on social media on Thursday in which an MLA of the ruling Congress in Chhattisgarh is purportedly heard abusing a revenue department official posted in Balrampur district over allocation of a pond for fish farming.
Prafull Rajak, posted as Deputy Collector in Ramanujganj town of the district, claimed the official in the purported audio clip was him and alleged the MLA abused him over the phone on Wednesday evening, a charge denied by the legislator.
The MLA, Brihaspat Singh, elected from Ramanujganj, however, dismissed the charge and accused the opposition BJP and some senior leaders of his own party of hatching a conspiracy to defame him.
Singh was in news recently for alleging a threat to his life from party colleague and Chhattisgarh Health Minister TS Singh Deo. The MLA later expressed regret for his comments against the minister.
After the audio clip went viral on a social media platform, the opposition BJP demanded that the state assembly speaker take cognizance of the matter and remove Mr Singh as MLA.
According to Mr Rajak, the entire matter pertains to leasing out a pond for fish farming to a group.
"There was a dispute between two groups which were seeking lease for fish rearing in the pond. The (Balrampur) Collector sir had given his decision in favour of one of the groups and complying with that order, I allocated the lease. I just did my job, but in return I got abuses," the Deputy Collector told PTI.
"On Wednesday evening, I got a call from one of the associates of the MLA, saying the legislator wanted to speak to me. I immediately called him during which he abused me over the pond allocation", he claimed.
Mr Rajak said he had apprised his senior officials about the matter and sought an inquiry.
Rejecting the allegations, the Congress MLA told reporters in Raipur that the voice in the audio clip was not his.
"The audio clip did not belong to me and it is not my voice. Allegations were leveled at me as part of a conspiracy hatched by a national level leader of the opposition (apparently referring to the BJP), while some senior Congress leaders who are in the government also have their role in it," Mr Singh claimed, without naming anyone.
The MLA claimed he was being continuously targeted as part of the conspiracy that was aimed at defaming him, but his detractors will never succeed in their designs.
"I have got information that a morphed video of mine is also soon going to be released but nothing will happen with that. People and god know everything," he said.
Singh said he is going to write a letter to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi seeking an appointment with him to inform him about developments related to him.
Meanwhile, senior BJP MLA Narayan Chandel demanded an apology from the Congress MLA.
"The Congress leadership in the state should clarify its stand on the issue and the MLA should immediately apologise to the state for his behaviour. Assembly Speaker Charandas Mahant should take cognizance of the matter and sack the MLA from his post," Mr Chandel said.
Mr Singh had landed into a controversy in July after he accused minister TS Singh Deo of engineering an attack on a vehicle in his convoy. The legislator had alleged a threat to his life from the minister.
After the issue triggered a row, the Congress MLA had expressed regret in the assembly for making allegations against the minister and said it was a result of an emotional outburst.
