Anil Deshmukh, Maharashtra Home Minister, has said the phones of non-BJP leaders in Maharashtra were tapped during the Maharashtra assembly elections and an investigation will be ordered into the serious charges. Now Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut has said a senior BJP minister of the previous government had also warned him that his phone was being tapped.
Sanjay Raut, in a tweet on Friday, said, "Your phone is being tapped. This was told to me by a senior BJP minister earlier. I told him whoever wishes to listen to my conversations is free to do so. I am a disciple of Balasaheb Thackeray, I don't do anything secretly."
After allegations and accusations that the phones of non-BJP leaders in Maharashtra were tapped during the Maharashtra assembly elections, sources say the Uddhav Thackeray government has ordered an investigation into the charges.
As per reports, the phones of leaders such as NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray were also being tapped apart from that of Sanjay Raut. The phone tapping went on even after the elections were over and when the negotiations between the parties went on for months before NCP, Shiv Sena and Congress finally entered a coalition.
Maharashtra's home ministry has ordered a probe into the matter. Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Thursday alleged that the previous Devendra Fadnavis dispensation misused government machinery to tap the phones of opposition leaders.
In a presser, Deshmukh said the cyber cell of the state police department has been directed to look into the complaints of phone-tapping and snooping of leaders who were then in the opposition.
"The cyber cell of Maharashtra police has been asked to look into the various complaints of snooping/phone tapping that came in during the previous government. The inquiry is being done following complaints of snooping on opposition leaders, especially during the formation of (Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi) government," Deshmukh said.
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"There is no doubt that the previous dispensation has misused the government machinery to tap of phones of leaders from opposition parties," the Maharashtra minister further added.
The minister further alleged that officers of the cyber cell were sent to Israel to study different softwares used for snooping.
"There were reports that some officers were sent to Israel to study the snooping software. We are finding out who had gone to Israel and whether there was any official engagement," Deshmukh said.