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Updated: May 09, 2019 05:12 IST

Police on Wednesday registered an FIR against BJP leaders accused of trying to bribe journalists at Leh following a court order.

Leh senior superintendent of police Sargun Shukla said, “Acting on the orders of the chief judicial magistrate’s court, we have registered an FIR under relevant sections of the law against the accused persons.” “I haven’t seen the FIR as of now and hence cannot share the details,” the SSP added.

Earlier, an inquiry, ordered by Leh deputy commissioner and district election officer Anvy Lavasa, had found the allegations against BJP leaders to be prima facie true. “The inquiry concluded that the allegations of attempt to bribe journalists are prima facie correct. We have asked the police to register a complaint. Since it is a non-cognisable offence, they can file an FIR after a court directive,” Lavasa had said on Sunday.

The DC had ordered the inquiry on May 3 after the Leh Press Club lodged a complaint that four of its members were offered bribes soon after a press conference by state BJP chief Ravinder Raina on May 2.

The club accused the BJP of violating the model code of conduct and sought action against party leaders. It is learnt that Leh journalists had submitted a CCTV footage to Lavasa requesting her to forward the same to the court for registration of FIR against BJP leaders.

Leh press club president Morup Stanzin said BJP MLC Vikram Randhawa handed over envelopes to four journalists in the presence of Raina.

“Our members got suspicious and opened it. There were some Rs 500 notes in the envelopes. When the press club members tried to return it, the BJP leader refused to take it. So they put those envelopes on table,” Stanzin said.

Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir unit of the BJP said it would set up a committee to probe the allegation that some party leaders tried to bribe journalists to influence parliamentary polls, party’s state unit chief Ravinder Raina said.

Randhawa, on his part, has denied the bribery charge.