The home ministry is likely to seek legal opinion on the whether it can order a suo moto investigation into the Essar phone-tapping issue or it needs a formal complaint from someone whose phone had be
The home ministry is likely to seek legal opinion on the whether it can order a suo moto investigation into the Essar phone-tapping issue or it needs a formal complaint from someone whose phone had been tapped. The matter has been refered to the home ministry by the Prime Minister’s Office following a complaint by a city-based lawyer. The lawyer in his complaint to the PMO had alleged that Essar had allegedly indulged in unauthorised phone-tapping of political leaders, bureaucrats and corporate rivals. The charges have been strongly denied by Essar. “The issue needs to be examined legally first on whether we can order a probe on our own or someone whose phone was apparently tapped needs to give a formal complaint to us. We need to see whether provisions of the Indian Telegraph Act have been violated in this or not. We will finalise on future course of action in this matter in the next couple of days,’’ a senior ministry official said. The issue will then be discussed by ministry officials with the home minister. Rajnath Singh to discuss future course of action.
