The mystery surrounding phone tapping and surveillance of the country's top officials, including that of National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, at the height of the internal feud in the CBI has deepened further.
In two separate affidavits submitted to the Delhi High Court, the Centre and the Central Bureau of Investigation have rejected the allegations of illegally listening to phone conversations of the senior officials.
The submissions were in response to a petition by lawyer Sarthak Chaturvedi who had relied on the then CBI officer Manish Kumar Sinha's deposition in the Supreme Court about bugging the phones of former CBI special director Rakesh Asthana, Special Secretary of R&AW Samant Goel, and Doval. Sinha had also hinted of tapping the phones of Union Law Secretary Suresh Chandra, Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha and Andhra Pradesh Cadre IAS officer Rekha Rani.
Sinha had told the top court that he had acted at the behest of the then CBI Director Alok Kumar Verma during a probe against Asthana. Verma and his deputy were earlier locked in bitter public acrimony, accusing each other of indulging in corruption. The spat had led to Verma's unceremonious exit from CBI.
The Centre told the HC that the phones of Doval and Asthana were never intercepted by the CBI's special unit. "It is also submitted that CBI never put any telephone number under surveillance illegally. The veiled reference of the petitioner of illegal interception of the phones of Law secretary and other IAS officers is vehemently denied."
Chaturvedi had filed the petition in January, demanding the formation of a Special Investigation Team to probe the phone-tapping and surveillance allegations. Reacting to the replies by the Centre and CBI, Chaturvedi said, "If the CBI claims before High Court that they have not intercepted the phones then how come Sinha got phone intercepts of country's top IPS and IAS officers. Who then tapped the phone: Which agency is behind it?."
Also, the phone intercepts of top IPS officers had made their way to the public domain the day Sinha made the submission in SC following his transfer from the CBI headquarters.
A high-power committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi removed Verma from the post of CBI Director for involvement in corrupt practices on basis of Central Vigilance Commission report.
Listening In
- A CBI officer had told SC the tapping had been done at director Alok Verma’s behest
- At the time, Verma and his deputy Rakesh Asthana were engaged in a bitter public fight
- Now, the CBI and Centre have said that no phone was illegally intercepted
- This adds to the mystery surrounding the matter as it involves country’s top security officials and bureaucrats
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 "Ajit Doval")
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