Phone tapping scandal: Probe likely to be handed over to CID

Bengaluru: The top police sources informed that the investigation into the phone-tapping scandal at the Bengaluru Police Commissionerate will be handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

It is gathered that, senior police officials have already briefed Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa of the details of the interceptions in the city police during the political crisis, where it was decided to hand over the probe to CID.

On Wednesday, August 14 disqualified JD(S) MLA from Hunsur, A H Vishwanath who had served as the JDS state president and turned rebel later, accused the previous government of tapping phones and spying on more than 300 leaders including him.

“My phone was tapped. I was among the 300 people whose phones were tapped,” Vishwanath told PTI.

Vishwanath went on to claim that the matter in fact had come to light six months ago when the Congress MLA H K Patil and BJP MLA R Ashoka had alleged that their phone calls were intercepted.

“It had actually started since then. They (the previous Congress-JDS coalition government) did not spare even some clerks,” Vishwanath added, referring to the alleged phone tapping of some politicians, journalists and officials.

Vishwanath had rebelled against the JDS leadership, resigned from the post of state president and then from the Assembly.

He aligned with the disgruntled Congress and JDS MLAs camped in Mumbai, who were later disqualified but were responsible for the fall of the then Kumaraswamy-led government, which was reduced to a minority in the truncated Assembly.

He was among the 17 MLAs whom the then Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar had disqualified from the assembly.