Gujarat govt acting with malice, says suspended IAS officer Sharma

 Suspended IAS officer Pradeep Sharma, who sought a CBI probe into Snoopgate allegedly involving BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, on Friday accused the Gujarat government of acting in “extreme degree of hostility, malice and malafide” for having charged him with indulging in illicit relationships with several women, including subordinate officers and relatives’ wives.

He had in November, last sought direction to the CBI to register a case and conduct a thorough inquiry into the violation of the Telegraph Act 1885 and other laws by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and others for mounting surveillance on a 32-year-old architect on the basis of tapped telephonic conversations.

“The state government does not make any clear unambiguous averment denying the veracity of the tapes. Modi too interestingly has chosen to remain silent.

“He has not filed any affidavit in response to the petition denying his liaison with the lady architect or denying the veracity of the transcripts,” he said in an affidavit in the apex court.

“The transcripts reveal the illegal surveillance and unusual high personal interest shown by Amit Shah into the personal life of the lady architect at the behest of ‘Saheb’ (Modi),” he added.

He also questioned the state government’s claim of being a “welfare state” by giving protection to the woman on her father’s request.

The officer submitted that the telephone transcripts were released by two websites based on the charge sheet filed by the CBI in the infamous Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case.