Gujarat govt. snooping extended to Karnataka, Gujarat Minister Amit Shah

The snooping of a woman allegedly at the behest of then Gujarat Minister Amit Shah was not confined to Gujarat but extended to Karnataka as well, according to an investigative portal, contradicting the claims of the BJP government.

The portal, gulail.com, has released a set of fresh 39 tapes, which contained purported conversation between two senior Gujarat police officials, G.L. Singhal and A.K. Sharma, about spying on the woman.

The website, which along with another portal cobrapost.com had first exposed the matter, said Gujarat Police had in 2009 contacted its Karnataka counterpart during B.S. Yedyurrapa’s regime for intercepting the telephone of the particular woman in Bangalore where she lived.

The Karnataka government, however, turned down the request, saying due procedures were not followed and that “the order had been signed by a junior officer who was not even authorised to issue phone-tapping instructions”.

According to the claims by the websites, the snooping was being undertaken at the behest of someone referred to as ‘saheb’. In some of the tapes, Mr. Shah, the then State Home Minister, is purportedly heard referring to ‘saheb’ repeatedly.

“The Gujarat police not only circumvented the process for tapping of phones, some junior officers of the State Home Department directly ordered the telecom companies to carry out illegal surveillance,” the website has claimed.

It said the move was in clear violation of Indian Telegraph Rule 419 (A) and the Gujarat government’s own notification (dated 29th March 1997), which clearly state that a phone can be tapped only with the written authorisation of the Union Home Secretary or State Home Secretary.

The new tapes contradict the claims made by Gujarat government that the woman was merely being “provided security” during her visits to Gujarat at the request of her father.