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Phones of oppn leaders being tapped: AAP to EC
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira has written to the Election Commission that Punjab Police was resorting to “illegal phone tapping” of opposition leaders, including him, on instructions of deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira has written to the Election Commission that Punjab Police was resorting to “illegal phone tapping” of opposition leaders, including him, on instructions of deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal.
“Since Punjab is due for elections early next year, Punjab Police have procured latest equipment through which they can tap mobile phones. The police have also procured interceptor vehicles that can be parked outside any building to intercept incoming and outgoing calls. A top Punjab Police official has given me information about the phone tapping. I can also disclose the address of the premises from where the operations of illegal phone tapping are taking place,” Khaira’s letter to the EC reads.
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He said the conversations can be misused by doctoring them to defame leaders and parties in the run-up to assembly polls. “One such edited and doctored telephonic conversation between MPs Bhagwant Mann and Dharamvira Gandhi was purposely leaked on the social media by Punjab Police sources in order to malign AAP leaders. This amounts to gross violation of our fundamental right of freedom to speak and also violates the Indian Telegraphic Act,” adds the letter.
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