The Andhra Pradesh High Court has raised eyebrows over allegations of phone tapping of a judge by the YSRCP led state government. The division bench of two judges hearing a petition termed the allegations as a serious issue.
The Andhra Pradesh court was hearing a petition filed by Nimmi Grace, a lawyer from Gopalapatnam in Vizag district on the alleged phone tapping by the state government. The advocate for the petitioner, Shravan Kumar alleged that the Chief Secretary, the DGP and Home Secretary had violated several laws by giving nod to tap the phone of a judge. The advocate called for a special investigation or a CBI probe into the matter.
The advocate further claimed that five persons were appointed by the state government to keep tabs on a judge. He also alleged that an IPS officer was tasked with overseeing the operation. The division bench comprising Chief Justice Maheswari and Justice Ramesh observed that the allegations being made of a judge’s phone being tapped is not a small matter, reported The New Indian Express.
The court directed the petitioner to file an additional affidavit over the allegations of phone tapping of a judge with more details. The next hearing of the petition is on Thursday.
The Additional Advocate General on behalf of the state government called the allegations based on a media report as fabricated. The Advocate General argued that the media house which published the news report should be made a respondent, but the court disagreed.
Earlier, controversy erupted in Andhra Pradesh with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief and former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu writing to PM Narendra Modi with allegations of phone tapping of opposition party leaders, lawyers, journalists and activists.
In response to the letter, the Andhra Director General of Police (DGP) Gautam Sawang write to the former Chief Minister stating there has been no complaint and sought evidence that phone tapping had indeed taken place.
Naidu on Tuesday responded by calling the DGP’s letter asking for proof as ridiculous and instead urged him to initiate a probe into the matter.