Nothing was found in Pranab Mukherjee bugging incident: Manmohan Singh

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said the Intelligence Bureau (IB) had given a clean chit in the alleged bugging of finance minister Pranab Mukherjee's office.

"He told us that the prime minister's office had directed the Intelligence Bureau to do an inquiry into the issue," Kumar Ketkar, editor of Divya Marathi, quoted Manmohan Singh as saying during a media interaction.

"The IB report said that there was nothing," Ketkar told reporters outside the prime minister's residence.

Manmohan Singh on Wednesday met with five print media editors for 100 minutes.

According to a newspaper report, Mukherjee wrote to Manmohan Singh last September  asking him to order a "secret inquiry" after some adhesives were found planted in his office and in some other areas in the ministry's North Block office.

This has now become a political issue with opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader LK Advani asking the prime minister to break his silence on the matter.