Phone tapping: Anil Deshmukh sets up two-member panel to probe

Anil Deshmukh. Picture/ Anil Deshmukh-Twitter

Amidst allegations of phone tapping of politicians on the previous state government led by Bharatiya Janata Party's Devendra Fadnavis, State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, on Monday, has said that his ministry will constitute a two-member committee to investigate the matter, which he refers to as a ‘national security threat.'

In two tweets, Deshmukh said that this ‘abuse of power violates the freedom and privacy as enshrined by the Constitution of India.' He had also alleged in January that the Fadnavis government tapped the phones of chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut and NCP chief Sharad Pawar ahead of the Lok Sabha and state assembly elections last year.

Deshmukh went to say in the tweet that the two-member committee, comprising the department's Additional Chief Secretary Shrikant Singh (IAS) and Joint Commissioner of Intelligence Amitesh Kumar (IPS) will be given six week to conduct the inquiry in this matter.

The NCP leader has stirred up a storm with his comments alleging previous BJP-Shiv Sena government led by Devendra Fadnavis of misusing government mechanism to tap the phones of Congress and NCP leaders. Raut also said that a senior BJP leader notified him about his phone getting tapped.

Since the comments have been out in the open, Fadnavis denied the allegations, saying that the allegers have 'very little political credibility,' added that the Shiv Sena was a part of his government's home ministry.

Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh had initially sparked a row in a series of tweets alleging the senior officials in the previous government were tapping the phones of some of their party leaders.

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