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Phone tapping: Centre to probe state agencies too

Decision comes after enquiry finds no evidence against National Technology Research Organisation.

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With the opposition looking determined to rake up the phone-tapping issue in parliament on Monday, the UPA government has decided to widen the ambit of the probe that would look beyond the National Technology Research Organisation (NTRO).

The probe will now see whether any other intelligence agency was involved in recording telephonic conversations of four leading politicians including that of a Congress leader, a source in the home ministry said.

The move came after a preliminary inquiry failed to find any records substantiating NTRO’s involvement. Under the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, and subsequent guidelines issued by the Supreme Court (SC), seven intelligence agencies including NTRO were authorised to tap phones on written instructions from either the Union home secretary or the state home secretaries.

The findings were in line with home minister P Chidambaram’s assurance to parliament last week that none of the designated authorities had given clearance to NTRO for phone-tapping.

The controversy involves the phone-tapping of agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, Congress leader Digvijay Singh, CPM general secretary Prakash Karat and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar.

“We have ordered a full-scale inquiry into the allegations of phone-tapping. It will look beyond NTRO and ascertain whether any other Intelligence agency was doing it illegally,” the source said.

Sources said the investigation may pose several difficulties as modern phone-tapping technology is easily available and several state governments and agencies possess the technology.

Police departments in Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka already have the equipment that can tap phones. The investigators may have to probe all such agencies, which could be time consuming.

Central agencies conducting the inquiry are now drawing a list of all those departments and organisations in the country that possess “telephone interceptors”, the source said.

Apart from widening the ambit of the probe, the possibility of bringing NTRO under the home ministry’s control was also being discussed at various levels. Chidambaram has already taken up the issue with prime minister Manmohan Singh.

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