Snoopgate: Cop at centre of controversy may deny knowing 'Saheb'

Even at a recent rally, the Congress’s Rahul Gandhi  raked up the controversy surrounding the controversy now known as Snoopgate in a bid to take a shot at BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. But the controversy which has dogged Modi and his close aide Amit Shah may be history soon if the cop at the centre of it denies all knowledge of the incident. [caption id=“attachment_1473927” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. AFP[/caption] Mumbai Mirror reports that suspended IPS officer GL Singhal, who was the Anti-Terrorism squad head in Gujarat and monitored the surveillance of the woman at Shah’s behest, is likely to deny any knowledge of the surveillance. Singhal, who is allegedly heard speaking in the controversial tapes with Shah, is reportedly set to say that he doesn’t know who the ‘Saheb’ referred to in the tapes is in order to protect other officials from the state government’s persecution. On the tapes, Shah, Modi’s Uttar Pradesh campaign manager and then minister of state for Home of Gujarat is heard telling Singhal that “Saheb” wants a women tailed at all times. However, the name of “Saheb” has never been mentioned by name on the 267 tapes exposed by journalist Ashish Khetan. According to the report, Singhal is reportedly concerned over how the probe in the Ishrat Jahan case was handled where despite his attempts to incriminate Amit Shah it yielded no result, and with the state government rehabilitating some officers close to him, the former police official may choose to strike a deal before the general election results which may favour Modi. Recently, the Gujarat High Court rejected suspended IAS officer Pradeep Sharma’s plea to register an FIR against Modi in the case. Sharma had come forward after the exposé and claimed that he knew the woman in question and that the government had violated her privacy by putting her under surveillance without her knowledge. Sharma too claimed that he was bring victimised by the state government. The Gujarat government had also told the Supreme Court that the woman knew that she was being watched by the Gujarat Police and was ’thankful’ for it. The woman’s father had initially issued a statement saying that he had asked Modi to ensure the security of his daughter. Modi, however, has chosen to stay silent on the entire issue.