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Journalism of Courage
Speaking on alleged tracking of phone records of senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley,the government on Friday rejected allegation of phone tapping and promised to get the full details of the 8220;unauthorised8221; obtaining of call details of the Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha.
8220;The government did not authorise anybody to intercept the telephone of the LOP,8221; Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said in a statement in the Upper House,where he came in for sharp criticism by non-Congress members on the issue.
Shinde said,8221;This was not a case of telephone tapping. The Indian government is not tapping any member8217;s phone.8221;
Rejecting the statement,BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu said 8220;it is nothing but reporting of an SHO8221; as the minister has only chosen to say that investigation is going on and interrogation has taken place.
8220;Normally the suspicion goes to the government8230; How can such activity take place without the knowledge of the government or its consent8230;Is there anything for government to hide8230; there is something fishy8230; there is something more than what meets the eyes. How can you be sure that phone tapping did not take place?8221; Naidu asked.
Ramgopal Yadav SP also wondered as to why a constable required the Call Data Records CDR of a big leader like the LOP. 8220;Who is behind it?8221; he said,adding doubts have been expressed that CDRs of 100 leaders of both Houses have been taken out.
Shinde said the government will consider the suggestion of the SP member that it should be made mandatory to seek the permission of the Rajya Sabha Chairman before the call detail records of any member is obtained and promised to write to the telephone department in this regard.
He also made it clear that what has been detected is 8220;not the monitoring of telephone conversation,which is ordinarily called tapping,but accessing of the CDR8221;.
But,Opposition members suspected the phones of their leaders were being tapped and suspected the government8217;s hand in it.
CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury said his name was also in the list of those whose phones were being tapped.
BJP had earlier termed the attempt to secure the Call Data Records CDR of Jaitley8217;s mobile phone as a serious matter and demanded an answer from Shinde as to who ordered this unauthorised surveillance.
8220;This is a government of spies like James Bond and when any government functions in a mafia style then the people of this country does not forgive it. This is a serious crime,8221; said BJP spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.
Private detective Anurag Singh,the alleged main conspirator arrested in connection with the attempt to access call details of Jaitley,was on Tuesday remanded in judicial custody by a Delhi court.
The other three accused constable Arvind Dabas,Neeraj and Nitish are already in judicial custody.
Anurag has earlier been accused of tapping the phone of former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh in 2005.
