Essar tappings: RIL claims conversations attributed to them are false

Reliance Industries said on Friday it was "shocked" at reports suggesting the group being victim of illegal phone tapping and termed the purported conversations as "false", even as it warned of legal action against such "sensationalism".

A news report on Friday claimed that a corporate house had tapped phones of ministers and industrialists. "We are shocked at reports which suggest that we have been victims of unauthorised and illegal tapping of our telephones. Conversations attributed to us are false and appear to have been doctored by someone who seeks to defame us", an RIL spokesperson said.

"We have, at all times, abided by the law of the land both, in letter and in spirit in all our actions and business activities and any suggestion of any wrongdoing is plainly false", it added. RIL said the reports are unfortunate as they make allegations without accepting any responsibility for the veracity of the contents.

"We reserve our legal rights to act against this kind of sensationalism", RIL said.

Further it said, "We expect the authorities to take a serious view of these alleged violations of our right to privacy if indeed there has been any illegal wire tapping. We also expect the authorities to verify the truth of these allegations and take action against these malicious falsehoods."

"We will render full cooperation to any authority in ascertaining the truth and remain confident of demonstrating that the salacious allegations are false and at all times, we have abided by the law". Earlier in the day, former JD(U) chief and Rajya Sabha MP Sharad Yadav also expressed "shock" at the reports and sought a thorough probe and clarification from the government.