Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has asked Ministry of Home Affairs to take appropriate action.
Taking cognisance of the seriousness of the complaint it received on the Essar phone-tapping case, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has asked the Union home ministry to probe and take “appropriate action”.
Sources said that the PM took up the issue with the officials and decided to forward the complaint to the home ministry to verify its veracity, before launching a full-fledged probe.
“The complaint has been forwarded by the PMO to the home ministry for appropriate action. However, no probe has been ordered as the PMO does not do that (orders probes). It is up to the home ministry to order a probe, if any at all,” the official said.
But a word has gone to the home ministry to accentuate the probe, as the government apprehends that the issue may be raked up by Opposition to derail Parliament session, scheduled next month.
It is believed that the home ministry will examine the complaint on Monday and take a decision subsequently whether a probe is required or not. It is expected that the ministry will ask the Intelligence Bureau to launch an initial probe, before the matter is handed over to some investigating agency.
The complaint was submitted to the PMO on June 1 by Supreme Court lawyer Suren Uppal, who claims to represent the Essar group ‘whistleblower’ Basit Khan, who allegedly tapped phones at the behest of his employers. Khan has, however, dissociated himself with Uppal.
Essar strongly denied allegations saying it never conducted or authorised any person to conduct any phone surveillance. The complaint includes call logs for purported conversations of Mukesh and Anil Ambani, with directors/promoters of the two companies and other senior officials.
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