Cong MLA claims his phone being recorded; opposition corners Amarinder govt

A ruling Congress MLA in Punjab has accused the police of tapping his phone, prompting the opposition to attack Amarinder government.

The matter of phone tapping came to light when Congress MLA from Samana Rajinder Singh raised the issue in a district grievance redressal committee meeting on Tuesday in Patiala.

Singh alleged that a police Inspector posted at Samana in Patiala had recorded his phone calls as well of his personal assistant.

"The police Inspector even showed me the call recordings he made after a confrontation with him over some issue, Singh said on Thursday.

"I told him (Inspector) that he had committed a blunder by recording my phone calls and it was against my privacy," said Congress MLA adding that he had even brought this matter to the notice of Patiala Senior Superintendent of Police two months back.

Singh said when no action was taken against the police inspector, he raised this issue during grievance redressal committee meeting on Tuesday.

The grievance committee meeting was also attended by two Congress MLAs --Madan Lal Jalalpur from Ghanaur and Hardyal Singh Kamboj from Rajpura.

After Congress MLA Rajinder Singh flagged this issue, Patiala SSP shifted the police inspector from Samana to Nabha on Wednesday, officials said.

Meanwhile, Aam Aadmi Party MLA Aman Arora while dubbing phone tapping as a "serious issue", on Thursday sought a probe by a sitting judge of Punjab and Haryana High court into the incident.

"It is a breach of privilege of MLAs, he said.

"If the phones of ruling party MLAs are being recorded, then you can well imagine about phones of leaders of opposition parties, said Arora.

The Shiromani Akali Dal has also charged the Congress led government with committing "breach of privilege" against its own legislators by tapping their phones.

SAD spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema urged Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker Rana K P Singh to initiate action against the concerned officials and also demanded a separate criminal case be registered.

Cheema said it was shocking that Congress legislator had accused his own government of "tapping" phone during a meeting of the district grievances redressal committee.

"TheSADtakes serious note of the issue and urges the Vidhan Sabha Speaker to take notice of it and protect the privacy of legislators which had been blatantly violated, Cheema said in a statement.