Maharashtra: DGP-led panel set up to probe Nana Patole’s phone-tapping claims

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government on Friday set up a three-member committee, headed by the state director general of police (DGP), to probe the phone-tapping allegations made by state Congress president and MLA Nana Patole in the recently concluded monsoon session of the state legislature. The panel has to submit its report in three months.
On June 5, Patole had alleged that during the BJP’s rule between 2014 and 2019, phones of leading members of Parliament and legislators, including his own, were illegally tapped for political reasons. Responding to the allegations, state home minister Dilip Walse Patil on Tuesday promised a high-level inquiry in the matter.
On Friday, the state home department issued an order appointing a committee comprising the DGP, state intelligence commissioner and additional police commissioner (special cell) to probe whether the phones of politicians were illegally tapped between 2015 and 2019, and if so, fix responsibility for the lapses. According to rules, it is necessary to secure permission from the competent authority for phone surveillance, and the name of the person whose phone would be under surveillance has to be clearly stated, along with the purpose of surveillance.
“The government had made a statement about illegal phone-tapping in the monsoon session and so the committee has been formed. Many politicians had raised the issue even during the assembly elections. All those complaints too will be looked into,” said an official.
Patole had alleged, “In 2016-17, my cellphone was under surveillance, along with phones of several MPs and legislators. I found that while the number under surveillance was mine, it was given the name Amjad Khan. It was then stated that Khan was involved in drug smuggling. It was an attempt to create rift between two communities...This is an attempt to destroy our political careers. I was an MP then, so there was no reason to tap my phone.”