Mumbai/New Delhi, December 1: The Union government has said it will inquire into the alleged misuse of state machinery in Gujarat in the wake of snooping on a woman, allegedly at the behest of Amit Shah, former Minister and close aide of Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
The illegal surveillance of the architect allegedly by the Gujarat Police violated phone-tapping rules as it was done without the mandatory permission from the Centre when she was out of Gujarat.
Asked whether Mr. Modi should face prosecution for the alleged misuse of state machinery, Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said on Sunday: “An inquiry will be conducted and [a] decision will be taken. The Union and State Home Secretaries have been authorised to take action against [illegal] snooping.”
Sources said a State Home Secretary was empowered to order tapping of the phone of a person within the State, but when surveillance was done in multiple States, permission of the Union Home Secretary was mandatory. The Gujarat Police seemed to have tapped the phone of the woman when she was in Maharashtra and Karnataka, besides Gujarat, without taking authorisation from the Union Home Secretary, the sources said.
The Gujarat government has constituted an inquiry committee, headed by a retired judge of the Gujarat High Court
