JOIN US"My telephone was being tapped. Experts have confirmed it," he told reporters.
He, however, refused to divulge any information on this.
According to sources, the Lokayukta started suspecting phone tapping about three months ago, as many confidential matters were becoming public. He initially suspected that the company which had installed CCTVs inside the Lokayukta office may have done the mischief. But it was proved wrong.
Later, experts from a private agency found that Justice Hegde’s phones (both mobile phone and landline at his residence) were tapped. The entire Lokayukta office located at Multi-storey (MS) building was scanned for bugging devices. Official sources said the Lokayukta’s phones were tapped from a residence in Dollar’s Colony, Chamarajpet and Basavanagudi. Experts had informed Justice Hegde about this.
Asked whether there was a link between the phone tapping and the report leak, he only said “everything is possible”.
Official sources said the Lokayukta was trying to find out who was behind the telephone tapping and the report leak.
Interestingly, when Deccan Herald learnt about phone-tapping, it had contacted Hegde on July 15. He had then said he was not aware of his phone being tapped. The staff in his office had told this paper that the call-tracking device was procured by the Bangalore police, following the serial blasts in 2008, to track calls of suspected terrorists. But it was being used to track the calls of the Lokayukta. “The government wants to find its enemies and with whom the Lokayukta is in contact with,” the sources had stated.
Who leaked the report?
A day after the report was leaked, the Lokayukta office was abuzz with speculation on who could have leaked the report. A team headed by senior forest officer U V Singh had been submitting its findings part by part to Hegde directly, based on which the Lokayukta was compiling the report.
The 10,000-odd-page report has extremely sensitive information, backed by substantive documents. The leaked extracts of the report are part of the final findings submitted by Singh.
The entire report was being put together at the Lokayukta office itself. Hegde would carry the report with him in his briefcase while travelling in his vehicle. It is strongly felt that officials and staff close to the Lokayukta are responsible for leaking the report.
BJP leader Dhananjaya Kumar said Hegde has not requested the government to probe into the report leak.
‘Staff crunch didn’t allow suo motu action’
Lokayukta Santosh Hegde, who has found large-scale irregularities in mining, says he could have referred many of the cases to the Lokayukta police, but was constrained by paucity of staff. When Deccan Herald asked him whether he could have referred the cases which he had already probed to investigating agencies including the Lokayukta police, he replied in the positive. “But, many cases were still at inquiry level.
It is easy to find fault with our work or blame us. Our intention was to make recommendations to the government rather than finding criminality. I did not have sufficient police. Madhukar Shetty, Lokayukta SP, was leaving the institution when the probe was still on.”