"The government has misused its authority and tapped telephones of general public for political purposes. I suspect that they (government) tapped telephones of the people who are connected to me," OJM leader and Rajya Sabha MP Pyarimohan Mohapatra, expelled from BJD recently, told reporters here.
Of the 4,620 telephone tapping cases since 2009, Mohapatra claimed 4,000 such incidents took place between March and November this year.
He suspected that telephones of the people, particularly politicians linked to him, were tapped for political purpose.
"I do not demand names of the persons whose telephones have been tapped for security reasons like crime tracking or Naxal movement," Mohapatra said replying a question.
"As the state government is found indulging in undemocratic practice by tapping telephones of the people, it must be dismissed," Mohapatra said.
Earlier, Parliamentary affairs minister Kalpataru Das had said that government tapped telephones of certain people as per the law under the Indian Telegraph Act.
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Das pointed out that Centre on an average taps telephone of 7,500 people to 3,000 people every month on security reasons.
"Therefore, tapping of 4,600 people in four years by the state government is not unusual," he said adding, "there is no political motive behind tapping of telephones in the state."