AAP's 'snooping plan': Delhi govt denies purchase proposal for devices, but says not wrong to use them

New Delhi: Has the Delhi government made a proposal for the purchase of high-end snooping device for the Anti-Corruption Bureau? While well-placed sources say there indeed is such a proposal, the government’s response does not make the picture clear.

“Neither the Delhi government has proposed to purchase any snooping equipment nor any Cabinet note in that regard has been circulated. We have come to know that the ACB, in a report to the Central government, has talked about the need to procure some general instruments necessary for intelligence gathering,” AAP spokesperson Deepak Bajpai told Firstpost. However, in the same breath he added there was nothing wrong in the proposal.

Asked if no such note has been circulated, how come it has surfaced in the media, he replied, “If it is so, what is wrong in this? Phone tapping instruments are very common and used by all probing agencies like the Delhi Police Special Cell, Income Tax Department, Revenue Intelligence, Enforcement Directorate, NIA, Military Intelligence and agencies of different state governments.”

Although AAP officially denied the allegations, a source in the know of the development confirmed that a proposal to procure instrument-based “eavesdropping technology” has been made by the government.

“The Delhi government wants to enhance the intelligence gathering capabilities of the ACB by making it technically stronger. Therefore, it plans to buy the high-end interceptors based on eavesdropping technology for an off-air recording,” he told Firstpost.

The surveillance system, he said, enables agencies to listen and monitor private conversation of suspects. It can intercept all electronic modes of communications such as telephone lines (wiretapping), instant messaging and emails.

Asked whether such gadgets are used by other agencies as well, he said, “Yes, such interceptors are used by several agencies responsible to ensure national security.”

The state government is learnt to have proposed to raise the ACB’s budget from the present Rs 7 crore to Rs 36 crore and procurement of such devices is a part of the proposal.

The Opposition parties – the BJP and the Congress – have termed the controversial proposal of the AAP government as a ‘snooping exercise’. Delhi BJP President Satish Upadhyay said the Arvind Kejriwal’s government’s initiative and involvement in starting work of phone tapping in the city stands out as the “ultimate proof of his non-democratic mindset”.

“The state government’s launching of such a snooping exercise without any public knowledge is an attack on the independence of the citizens and a step ahead of his circular on media gag already stayed by the Delhi High Court. It also shows that Arvind Kejriwal is anarchist in his approach and his perception is that the citizens of Delhi are corrupt,” he said.

The Congress said the ruling AAP may use such high-end equipments to ‘snoop on its political opponents’. It sought an explanation of the government on the leaked note and the proposal of raising the “secret fund” from the existing Rs 1.50 lakh to Rs 20 lakh as mentioned in the government document.

“We want Mr Kejriwal to give clarification on the 16-page document available in the public domain which carries government data and details of current infrastructure,” senior Congress leader Ajay Maken told reporters.

Questioning the intent of procuring high-tech surveillance equipments, he said, “Will this infrastructure be used to nab corrupt officials or will it be used to settle their own political scores? Going by past record of the AAP, we apprehend that such facility will be used to snoop on political opponents.”