NEW DELHI, Mar 1:
Clarifying that it had no hand in accessing the call detail records of Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, the Government today said it viewed the issue as a matter of concern and would carry out a detailed investigation.
Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said, in a statement, ”I want to clarify that the Government is not tapping the phone of any MP. The constable who was trying to access the call detail records of Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley was working for a private agency.
”It is also a matter of concern for us that the CDRs of Mr Jaitley were being accessed. The Government has taken it very seriously and will investigate in detail,” he said.
He, however, refused to give a time frame for the completion of the probe.
”Such an investigation is a serious investigation. The police have to go into details. We will complete it as early as possible. However, it is not possible to give a time limit,” Mr Shinde said in response to a demand by BJP members that he give a time frame for the completion of the probe.
Mr Shinde said permission for accessing CDRs of any person is given by the Home Secretary.
”As per provisions, only the Home Secretary is the competent authority to allow interception of phone records.
”The Government has taken it very seriously that CDRs of an MP, in this case the LOP, is being accessed,” Mr Shinde said in reply to clarifications sought by members on his statement.
He said the Government would seriously consider the suggestions by members that any permission for accessing the CDRs of MPs be given only by the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.
Earlier, the entire opposition, including the BJP, the JD(U), the BSP, the Samajwadi party, the AIADMK and the All India Trinamool Congress raised concern over the accessing the CDRs of Mr Jaitley.
Deputy Leader of the BJP Ravi Shankar Prasad said it was shocking that a constable in the ACP’s office in New Delhi was able to access CDRs of several persons for the past several months without the knowledge of his superiors.
Wondering if this was a case of a private body being used for political purposes, Mr Prasad said, “Such a massive operation could not have been done without backing at the Government level. The Home Minister must explain.”
Ms Maya Singh of the BJP said the telephone of Mr Jaitley was being tapped for long.
“Till date, we have not been able to find the people behind this telephone tapping,” she said and demanded that a probe be conbducted to find out the people behind this conspiracy.
Mr Piyush Goyal (BJP) said the matter had serious implications and demanded that a list of telephone numbers of MPs be given to telepohone companies to be considered as privileged.
Expression serious concern on the issue, Mr Ram Gopal Yadav of the Samajwadi Party said it should be investigated phone records of which persons were being sought by the Constable who has been arrested by the police for trying to access CDRs of Mr Jaitley.
Dr V Maitreyan of the AIADMK said the names of persons whose phone tapping have been authorised by the Home Ministry should be revealed.
”We demand a full fledged inquiry into the matter,” he said.
Mr Narendra Kumar Kashyap (BSP) said a policy should be devised to ensure that instances of phone tapping of Rajya Sabha MPs do not recur.
He also demanded that licence of private companies that conduct such operations be cancelled.
Mr Shivanand Tiwari (JD-U) wanted to know why it was not investigated by the authorities as to how the constable acquired so much wealth.
Mr D Raja of the CPI said it was a violation of the right to privacy of an individual.
Earlier, Mr Shinde said it was not a case of telephone tapping but that of accessing CDRs.
He said four people involved in obtaining the CDRs illegally have been arrested and interrogated.
”The court of law has remanded them to judicial custory,” he said.
(UNI)
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