Dhumal claims his phones being tapped

Former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal today claimed that his phones are being tapped.
His allegations come amidst alleged phone tapping during the previous BJP regime in the state in which the Vigilance and Anti-corruption Bureau of Himachal Pradesh police has registered a case.
"The phones of other BJP leaders are also being tapped and whenever I call up or receive a call on my mobile, a sound comes, indicating that the phone is being tapped by someone," Dhumal told reporters here.
He claimed that the phones of BJP leaders were tapped in the Congress regime from 2003-2007.
Dhumal questioned the action of the government to "illegally" seize the computers in the CID wing on the night of December 24 last year on the eve of swearing ceremony of Virbhadra Singh.

"Under whose orders the computers in the CID wing of police were seized and the conversation tapped retrieved against law?"

However, he hastened to add, "We don't worry as what we talk in public meetings, we speak out the same on telephone and have nothing to do or say against national interest".
He said the move was a breach of privacy. "Who directed the Vigilance Bureau to retrieve the conversation recorded in the computers and breach the privacy which was against law? All these facts should also come under scrutiny," Dhumal said.
He said the phones of criminals and smugglers are usually tapped and kept under vigil. To access secret conversation is also an offence, he said.

Dhumal said the government was free to hold an inquiry into the alleged phone tapping to bring out the truth.