Hyderabad: The Telangana state police on Sunday submitted a report to the State Election Commission in connection with the allegations made by politicians that their mobile phones were being tapped by the state police.
“Phone tapping, if necessary, is done for criminals and anti-nationals depending on the need. It is done by following due procedure of seeking permission from the Union home ministry,” said a senior official placed at the state police headquarters in Hyderabad.
Three days ago, a few political leaders from the Opposition parties had complained to the State Election Commission that the state police had been tapping their phone calls. Following that, the EC had asked the police to submit a report. After a meeting held at the police headquarters on Saturday, the report was submitted on Sunday to the EC.
The police official, on the condition of anonymity, said, “As sought by the EC, a report has been submitted Sunday. The allegations by the political leaders were baseless. The department is not tapping their phone calls. There is a procedure for the police to follow to tap the calls. Permission from the MHA (ministry of home affairs) will be sought on specific grounds to monitor a person’s calls.”
Responding to a query, the official asked: “Are the governments in power in other states also doing this (phone tapping)? It is done for calls made to or by the criminals and anti-nationals, that too after following due procedure. We have informed the EC that we were not tapping the calls of politicians.”
