 "Modi's aide Shah hit by snooping scandal")
The allegations were based on audio recordings of conversations in 2009 between Shah and IPS officer G L Singhal, who was then a superintendent of police in the Anti-Terrorist Squad. The websites also put the audio tapes and transcripts in public domain.
“Audio tapes reveal the illegal surveillance of a young woman from Bangalore in 2009, ordered by Amit Shah for his ‘saheb’. The police followed her to malls, restaurants, gyms, and even when she visited relatives, went to see her mother at a hospital, took a flight or checked into a hotel,” independent media portals Cobrapost.com and Gulail.com said in a press release.
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| THE RISE OF AMIT SHAH |
| 2003 Made Gujarat MoS for home Held the portfolio till 2010 July 2010 Arrested by the CBI for his involvement in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case October 2010 Gujarat High Court grants him bail November 2010 Supreme Court directs Shah to stay out of Gujarat September 2012 Apex Court allows Shah to return to Gujarat December 2012 Contests Gujarat Assembly Elections and wins May 2013 BJP puts Shah in charge of Uttar Pradesh |
The surveillance-and-phone-interception operation was mounted in August 2009 on oral orders, without any legal authorisation, and was meant only to serve the interests of someone whom the then minister of state for home, Shah, addressed as “saheb”, the release added.
A Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson refused to comment. Shah did not pick up calls.
Ashish Khetan, editor, Gulail.com, who worked on the expose with Cobrapost’s Raja Chowdhry, said, “We have accessed both the entire set of recordings and the three explosive self-incriminatory statements given by Singhal before the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation). We also have the 10-page panchnama prepared by the CBI.”
Releasing the tapes and transcripts at a crowded press conference, Khetan said the right to privacy was an essential ingredient of the right to life, guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution, and claimed the tapes showed these were being breached illegally by the state machinery. “Nobody has the right to peep into our bedroom, unless we are a threat to public safety,” said Khetan. The tapes also revealed that Shah had instructed Singhal to mount surveillance on a senior IAS officer, Pradeep Sharma, and tap his phones to find out if he was meeting the woman.
Social activist Aruna Roy, lawyer and Aam Aadmi Party functionary Prashant Bhushan, senior journalists Siddharth Varadarajan and Kumar Ketkar were also present at the conference.
When asked if the surveillance operations were based on some intelligence inputs or other requests, Khetan said the onus was on the Gujarat government. “We have placed the evidence before everyone.” Let the authorities clarify, he added.
However, a press note purportedly written by the woman’s father began circulating in media circles after the conference. The note suggested that the father had “orally” requested Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi “to take care of my daughter and ensure that she does not face any problem”.
The note said the family had long-standing relations with Modi. “He assured me as a political head of state,” he said in the note. The note also alleged that “certain vested interests were approaching the media to present these facts in a pervert (sic) manner”.
However, Cobrapost dismissed the letter as an “afterthought.” The portal’s chief, Aniruddha Bahal, told Business Standard, “The woman and her family are settled in Gujarat, they have their business and properties in the state. A state has immense leverage over its citizens and, therefore, the alleged statement seems to be an afterthought and yet another arm-twisting tactic by Shah and co to validate their illegal acts. Are powers of the state meant for private surveillance?”
In July, the Press Trust of India had reported that Singhal, then suspended, had given two pen drives to the CBI, including one in which he had “secretly” recorded a conversation between him and Shah. “G L Singhal informed that these files contain telephonic conversations between him and Amit Shah, then MoS (Home), Gujarat state, in the months of August and September 2009 relating to misuse of the police for extra legal purposes…,” PTI had said, quoting the CBI chargesheet.
The investigation agency recorded a panchnama (recovery document) of the pen drive before taking it into possession.
Shah was the state home minister between 2003 and July 2010. He resigned after the CBI charged him with the kidnapping and murder of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, alleged to be a gangster, and his wife.
The portals claimed to have accessed the contents of these pen drives and the panchnama.