Snooping issue: Congress steps up pressure on Modi

The Congress Friday stepped up pressure on the BJP's prime minister candidate Narendra Modi over the alleged snooping on a young woman by the Gujarat Police, demanding that a sitting Supreme Court judge probe the matter.

"We demand a sitting judge of the Supreme Court probe the issue," Gujarat Congress leader Shakti Sinh Gohil told reporters.

"We are not for character assassination of anyone, but this is a serious issue," he said.

Former Gujarat minister of state for home Amit Shah, a Modi aide, is being accused of misusing his powers and police machinery for illegal surveillance of a young woman in 2009.

The Congress has been raising the issue for the past many days.

Gohil Friday came out with fresh information saying that the woman had good relations with Modi and when their relations went sour, she was put under the surveillance of Gujarat Police.

Gohil also claimed to have documents which showed that state funds were used to pay phone recharge and petrol bills of the woman during a festival in Kutch region.

He also claimed that a company, Equilibrium Energy, run by the woman's two brothers was given a key solar power project as a favour by Modi.

The charge of snooping, Gohil said, was "non-compoundable" - that is, even if the woman had not filed a complaint, it was the responsibility of the state to probe the matter. Gohil said Gujarat government should have probed the matter.

A statement from the woman's father that he wanted his daughter protected was not sufficient, Gohil said.

The president of the Mahila Congress, Shobha Oza, questioned the double standards of the BJP, saying that while its government in Goa had initiated action against a molestation charge against Tehelka journalist Tarun Tejpal, its government in Gujarat was silent in the snooping matter which involved the human rights of a woman.

"I want to ask them why such double standards," Oza told reporters.

The Mahila Congress plans to take to the streets over the issue, she said.