Govt snooping on Capt? Maybe,maybe not says intel

“No matter where and what we say,it is known to the ruling party within seconds. The vigilance chief Sumedh Singh Saini is sitting all day with earphones to snoop on what I say,” Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh had recently said while asking which law allows phones of political rivals to be tapped.

Interestingly,Amarinder did not deny that it was done during his tenure as chief minister also. “We usually had a handicapped police inspector with headphones recording conversations on tape for security reasons. But this regime is resorting to hi-tech tapping. Also,we never snooped on the Badals (Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir),” he added.

People’s Party of Punjab president Manpreet Badal too alleged tapping of phones after he parted ways with the ruling party. “The proof lies in the reaction to our conversations. No sooner do we talk on phone to someone,the ruling party launches efforts to win him over or intimidate him. From Akali workers to the local DSPs,all are tipped off,” said Badal.

He added that his party leaders now use some undisclosed numbers to discuss issues within the party or when talking to family members. “Most of us now use Blackberry phones,which the state intelligence has no access to despite all their sophisticated devices,” says Manpreet.

However,according to the Punjab intelligence,it has certified to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in May this year that they are not in possession of any off-the-air equipment. The off-the-air equipment are mobile units,which can intercept and record call content directly without help of service providers. As for on-air tapping (lawful telephone interception through the service provider),the Indian Telegraph Act permits intelligence agencies to tap phones of ‘suspects’ involved in anti-national or criminal activities. Though the state intelligence unit has the discretion to use it after seeking permission from the Home Ministry.

Punjab,on directions of the MHA,also has a review committee comprising chief secretary,legal remembrancer and a secretary to the state government (other than home secretary) to scrutinise the interception of phones. However,given the procedural complexities,some agencies are known to tap phones without going through the red tape (or in fact to avoid the official channel). It is one of the reasons why Punjab Chief Secretary SC Agrawal does not rule out the possibility of political leaders’ phones being tapped.

“We have not authorised the tapping of phones of any politician. But if it is being done without following the official channel,I am not aware and cannot do anything about it,” Agrawal said. Political parties also allege that the government has outsourced the job of snooping. “The state intelligence agencies do not know how to handle some of the hi-tech snooping devices. So the job has been outsourced to private agencies,” said Manpreet’s aide Arunjot Sodhi.

Notably,the CID unit in the neighbouring Haryana also posses off-air apparatus procured three years back. It has been asked by the MHA to surrender the device.