'No official found guilty in phone tapping case to be spared'

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today said no official found involved in illegal phone tapping and intruding into privacy of people would be spared.
"Whosoever is responsible for granting permission for phone tapping without following due process or was directing this illegal act, will not be spared whatever position he might be holding," Singh told reporters here.
A day after opposition BJP alleged that the Chief Minister was influencing the ongoing investigation into phone tapping and that he had taken diverse stand on the issue, Virbhadra said, "We are not in a hury but we have not given clean chit to anybody and law will take its own course."

Refuting BJP's allegations, a government spokesman said, action taken in the phone tapping case has been strictly in accordance with the law.
The spokesman clarified that hard discs from offices of the CID, Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau were seized strictly in accordance with law to ascertain whether telephone interceptions were carried out in accordance with the Indian Telegraph Act or not.
"The hard discs seized were sent for analysis by a team of State Forensic Science Laboratory (SFSL), Junga. After the SFSL submitted its report, preliminary enquiry on the matter was conducted by State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau," he said.

The spokesman said State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau functions with complete autonomy when it comes to investigation of cases and there was no interference of the government in the investigation.