A third person held in Amar Singh phone tapping case

     New Delhi: Delhi Police has arrested one more person in connection with the phone-tapping case of Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh. The arrested person is an associate of Bhupendra, the owner of a private detective agency, who was nabbed on December 30. With this arrest, the total number of persons apprehended so far has risen to three. Police had also arrested another person identified as Kuldeep Singh, an employee of the Reliance Infocomm on January two, who had allegedly helped Bhupendra.

   According to police, Bhupendra, the owner of 'Metro Intelligence' in South Extension was allegedly tapping Amar Sigh's phone on the basis of forged letters in the name of Delhi government's Home Secretary R Narayanswamy and Delhi Police's Joint Commissioner (Crime) Ranjit Narayan. Delhi Police had registered a case of forgery, cheating, criminal conspiracy and other relevant sections of the Indian Telegraph Act in connection with the allegations made by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav about tapping of phones of Amar Singh and other SP leaders. Last Friday, Mulayam Singh Yadav alleged that the Manmohan Singh Government was tapping Amar Singh's phone on the orders of Congress President Sonia Gandhi. Mulayam said that in October and November, the Delhi home secretary had given instructions to tape conversations between Amar Singh and other Samajwadi Party leaders. "Maybe the Union home ministry does not know about it and the PM also has no idea about it. All this is originating from 10, Janpath," Mulayam had alleged.

    Ever since the formation of the UPA government at the Centre and the Mulayam government in UP in 2004, the relationship between the Congress and the SP has been edgy despite both having handed out letters of support to each other. Mulayam Singh has also accused the Congress of trying to bring down his government. He claims the tapping was done to overthrow his government and distract attention away from the Volcker controversy. According to him, Delhi Police Commissioner KK Paul has admitted to the tapping. But both Paul and the Congress have dismissed the charge. "This is yet another example of the Samajwadi Party's 'Congressitis' and 'Sonia-itis'. We have no evidence that these charges have any basis," said Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Spokesperson, Congress.

    In fact, the Home Ministry has gone on the offensive and registered a case of conspiracy and cheating. "It is a pure case of forgery, so we have registered a case," said L C Goyal, an official of the Home Ministry. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa has also indirectly accused the Central Government of tapping her phone. The role of the telecom provider, Anil Ambani's Reliance Infocomm, may also come up as they are the ones who confirmed that a tap on Amar Singh's phone had been ordered. The Samajwadi Party says that it won't be satisfied unless a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe is carried out.

Congress 'producer-director' of phone tapping: Amar Singh
by Vikram Vishal

     Greater Noida (UP): In a fresh attack on Congress party president Sonia Gandhi on the phone tapping issue, Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh said on Friday that the Congress was the "producer-director" of the whole episode. Maintaining that his phone was being tapped at the behest of Sonia, Amar Singh said, "Savdhan! Sonia sun rahi hai," (Beware! Sonia is listening). Addressing a press conference after attending the inauguration ceremony of the India Expo Centre and Mart here today, Amar Singh said that he would move the apex court and include all parties concerned in his petition in connection with the phone tapping case. "The Congress party is the producer-director of the whole incident. Even they are aware of that and this is why they are saying it is a "Laila Majnu" episode. I think Ambika Soni knows more about such things. The Congress is asking me why dont I sue the Reliance Infocomm Company. Well, in response to this, I would say that I shall be moving the Supreme Court and in my petition all involved parties would be included," he said. Amar Singh also said that he had information about a big industrialist who was allegedly paying a whopping 8 million rupees per month for tapping his phone. "I do not trust the Delhi Police as they themselves are saying that some big industrialist is paying 8 million rupees per month to tap my phone. And this big industrialist is supposed to be close to Congress," he added.

   The Delhi police, under whose jurisdiction the so-called violation of privacy took place, have arrested the owner of a private detective agency. Amar Singh, in a bid to garner support for his stand against alleged phone tapping, is meeting several political leaders. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav had alleged that the Congress party, which provides outside support to the Samajwadi Party government in the State, was conspiring to prove the government as inefficient. Last week, Mulayam Singh Yadav had alleged that Congress party President Sonia Gandhi had asked the Government agencies to tap telephones of senior SP leaders, saying the telephones of the party members were "being tracked by the Delhi Police at the behest of 10, Janpath". Yadav had said that the conversation of Amar Singh was regularly being tapped and his phone had a direct link to the phone of Joint Commissioner (Crime), North Zone, Delhi, adding that the order for this operation was given by the Principal Secretary, Home. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had, however, refuted the allegations, terming the allegations as "totally baseless". L.C. Goel, Joint Secretary, Internal Security, MHA, had said that the documents and evidence available with them and with the telecom service providers, cited as the basis of such monitoring, appeared to be prima facie, a clear case of forgery, adding that no such instructions had been issued by the Home Ministry in this regard and it was being investigated by the Delhi Police.

    Delhi Police has so far arrested three persons in connection with the phone tapping case. The arrested persons are Bhupendra, the owner of a private detective agency, who was nabbed on December 30, Kuldeep Singh, an employee of the Reliance Infocomm, who had allegedly helped Bhupendra and an associate of Bhupendra. According to police, Bhupendra, the owner of 'Metro Intelligence' in South Extension was allegedly tapping Amar Sigh's phone on the basis of forged letters in the name of Delhi government's Home Secretary R Narayanswamy and Delhi Police's Joint Commissioner (Crime) Ranjit Narayan. Delhi Police had registered a case of forgery, cheating, criminal conspiracy and other relevant sections of the Indian Telegraph Act in connection with the allegations made by Mulayam Singh Yadav.

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