Phone tapping case: CBI carries search operation at ex-Bengaluru top cop Alok Kumar's residence
Bengaluru, Sep 26: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducting searches at the residence and office of Bengaluru's former police commissioner Alok Kumar, in connection with the illegal phone tapping of several politicians and officers of Karnataka.
Alok Kumar is currently serving as Additional Director General (ADG) of Karnataka Police.
The CBI sleuths are reportedly searching for a pen drive at his residence which contains audio conversations. Earlier, the deputy commissioner had recorded the statement of a police inspector who had informed his senior that intercepted calls were downloaded from a server and handed over in a pen drive to the then Bengaluru Police Commissioner.
In August 2018, an FIR was lodged by the CBI following a request by the BS Yediyurappa government in Karnataka.
The phone-tapping controversy came into light when an alleged phone conversation was leaked to the media in which an IPS officer's name was revealed.
Several senior Congress leader leaders names- Ahmed Patel and former PWD Minister HD Revanna of the JD(S) had also disclosed in the leaked phone tapes.
While the Karnataka government of HD Kumaraswamy was under prolonged turmoil, it was alleged by several MLAs that the chief minister and JD(S) leader was tapping the phones of his colleagues.
The CBI has lodged an FIR on the request of Karnataka government against unknown public servants and private persons.
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The Karnataka government had asked for a CBI probe claiming that phones of politicians from both ruling and Opposition parties, and their relatives were tapped over a period of one year.