The Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) probe into the phone tapping case in Karnataka has taken a new turn. The probe team is now looking at whether the phones of Congress, JD(S) and BJP legislators were tapped under the pretext of local crime investigations based on criminal cases registered across police stations in Bengaluru city.

CBI sources say that disqualified Yeshwanthpur MLA ST Somashekar’s phone was allegedly tapped by police officers who were investigating a case registered in the Bagalakunte Police Station in January this year. On the night of January 2, six men led by gangster Tattoo Jagga had been accused of attempting to kill one of their rivals Gangadhara P at a hotel room in Bagalakunte.

Tattoo Jagga and the other accused had absconded and the police had allegedly ordered a tap on their phones in order to track them down. “At the time, ST Somashekar’s phone was also tapped though he had nothing to do with the case. The phone numbers are given to the centre at Adugodi, where the tapping is done. When a list was given in this case (0003/2019) ST Somashekar’s phone number was one among them. ST Somashekar’s phone was tapped for over 100 hours,” the CBI source said.

CBI sleuths also suspect that the phone numbers of 17 politicians and their associates were tapped allegedly on the pretext of investigating hawala networks. “The Bengaluru Central Crime Branch was investigating several cases in which people were accused of setting up hawala networks to convert black money to white. Phones belonging to BS Yediyurappa’s PA Santhosh, Hoskote MLA MTB Nagaraj and Chikkaballapura MLA Sudhakar (both disqualified MLAs) were also tapped. The probe is looking into who ordered these wire taps,” the CBI source added.

The CBI had raided the house of former Bengaluru Police Commissioner Alok Kumar on September 26 in connection with the phone tapping case. Alok Kumar was the head of the Central Crime Branch when the alleged wire tap was ordered on ST Somashekar and the two other disqualified MLAs- MTB Nagaraj and Sudhakar. The BJP and the rebel MLAs had accused former CM HD Kumaraswamy of ordering the police to tap the phones of 300 politicians, their relatives and associates. The probe was handed over to the CBI by the Karnataka High Court earlier in August.