In an apparent illegal action, a registrar at IIT-Kharagpur had allegedly accessed call records of a whistleblower professor, from BSNL, with whom the institute was having litigations at various levels.
Prof Rajeev Kumar managed to access records through Right to Information Act which show that officiating registrar T K Ghosal had written to BSNL General Manager, Telephones in Kharagpur on January 10, 2011 demanding details of calls, made and received from his personal mobile, for six months.
The records show that BSNL officials had provided these details to the IIT within three days of requests being made knowing well that phone was registered in the name of Kumar and not the institute.
When contacted over phone, Ghoshal said, "All faculty members are being reimbursed Rs 750 per month as telephone charges... We asked for the details for some enquiry. We asked for call details it is not call tapping. We sought the information from the BSNL. If it is unauthorised, if it is illegal, BSNL authorities could not have given to us. They would have refused it. We have not forced them to give it. We have said please give the call details that's it."
Ghosal admitted that phone was registered in the name of Kumar and not IIT.
Suspecting that he was under "illegal surveillance" of the IIT, Kharagpur authorities, Kumar had last year filed a complaint with the West Bengal Police alleging that the BSNL had "unauthorisedly" shared call detail records of his personal mobile phone with the authorities at IIT-Kharagpur with whom he was in litigation at various fora.
"The cell phone connection is my personal cell connection, acquired by me in my own name, is for my personal use. I pay all the bills, I own the bills and the receipts...Phone tapping with local connivance of BSNL authorities is not ruled out. All such aspects may kindly be investigated," he alleged.
