Centre may order probe into Essar phone-tapping

There have been instances in the past when certain individuals and organisations took the help of police to tap telephones. Under such circumstances, it is possible that the phones were tapped with the help of someone in the Mumbai Police, the functionary said.

Meanwhile, a Home Ministry official said the file related to the alleged illegal tapping of phones, which was sent by the PMO, is with Home Minister Rajnath Singh and so far no decision on the next course of action has been taken.

The official said there is a possibility of conducting an internal inquiry, likely by the Intelligence Bureau, before ordering a formal probe by an organisation like the CBI.

The PMO had forwarded to the MHA a complaint by lawyer Suren Uppal, alleging that the Essar Group had ordered its former security chief Albasit Khan to tap into its business rivals’ telephone conversations when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister.

The complaint incorporated call logs of purported conversations of Mukesh and Anil Ambani with Directors and Promoters of their companies and other senior officials. The tapped conversations showed how business rivals reached out to politicians to seek favours. 

The complaint also mentioned purported conversations of senior officials of the Vajpayee PMO, former NSA Brajesh Mishra and the then PM’s foster son-in-law Ranjan Bhattacharya.