Modi aide accused of using police to snoop on woman

Two web portals release audiotapes

Two investigative news portals on Friday jointly released audiotapes of conversations between former Gujarat minister of state for home Amit Shah and IPS officer G L Singhal, accusing Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s aide of misusing the official machinery to order surveillance of a young woman at the behest of “saheb” in 2009.

It allegedly tantamounts to “stalking” and “invasion of privacy” of a woman by a state, despite the fact that she was neither a terrorist nor wanted in any case. 

The woman’s father, however, issued a statement saying he was shocked to see a story on his daughter. He said he had orally requested Modi, who was his family friend, to “take care” of her as she had gone to Ahmedabad to attend to her mother who underwent an operation, said a news agency.

Singhal, who was posted as SP in the Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) of Gujarat then, and Amit Shah have since been booked by the CBI in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case. Both are out on bail now.

The tapes indicate that for at least over a month, the Gujarat Police rigorously monitored her movement. They listened to the personal conversations of Madhuri (name changed) during August-September 2009.

The police followed her to malls, restaurants, gyms, even when she visited relatives, went to see her mother at a hospital, took a flight or checked into a hotel, alleged news portals Cobrapost and Gulail.com.

Named “The Stalkers,” a short film of around 50 minutes was played in a press conference held at the Press Club on Friday. The story was an outcome of efforts put in by Cobrapost’s Anirudh Bahal and Gulail.com’s Ashish Khetan and Raja Chowdhury.

The “illegal surveillance of woman” was ordered by Shah at the behest of his “saheb.”

The news portals claimed to “have accessed both the entire set of recordings and the three explosive self-incriminatory statements given by Singhal to the CBI between April and June this year.”

Two hundred and sixty seven audio recordings were submitted to the CBI by Singhal as part of the Ishrat Jahan encounter case, Khetan told reporters. 

The tapes indicate involvement of three key wings of the Gujarat Police—the State Intelligence Bureau, also known as the CID Intelligence, the Crime Branch and the Anti-Terrorist Squad – in the snooping.

Besides Singhal, erstwhile IG (Intelligence) A K Sharma, erstwhile Deputy SP (CID Intelligence) D B Vaishnav and erstwhile DCP (Crime) Abhay Chudasama were some of the other senior officers who were roped in for the operation, the portals claimed.

At present, Sharma is posted as Joint Commissioner of Crime in Ahmedabad city.
While Vaishnav has retired, Chudasama is in jail on charges of stage-managing the Sohrabuddin Shaikh encounter.

With Narendra Modi being projected as BJP’s prime ministerial nominee, Shah has also grown in the party hierarchy as he is looking after poll campaign in Uttar Pradesh.

The tapes also suggest that Shah had instructed Singhal to mount surveillance on a senior IAS officer, Pradeep Sharma, to find out if he was meeting Madhuri.

According to the portals,  Sharma had independently filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court in May 2011 and alleged that he was being  framed in bogus corruption cases due to Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s association with a young woman. 

“It now emerges from Singhal’s statements and tapes that the name of the woman mentioned by Sharma in his petition is the same as the name of the woman who was kept under watch,” claimed the news portals.

The press conference was followed by a discussion on the issue which was attended by eminent jurists, rights activists and intellectuals including Prashant Bhushan, Admiral (Rtd) Ramdas, Aruna Roy and Siddharth Vardharajan.

Bhushan said it was a case of stalking, intrusion into privacy and violation of the Telegraph Act, which prohibits tapping of telephonic conversation except in cases of public safety and emergency. “This is a misuse of police force for personal interest,” he said.

The girls father, however, issued a statement saying his daughter, who was based in Bangalore, had gone to Ahmedabad when her mother was to undergo a surgery. She was required to commute at odd hours between the hospital and a nearby hotel, which was a matter of concern for him.

He had, therefore, orally requested Modi, “with whom we have long-standing family relations” to “take care” of her. He was shocked that people with vested interests were approaching the media in this regard.