Amar names industrialist in phone-tap case

Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Amar Singh, who is in the centre of a phone-tapping controversy, today claimed that an industrialist with "deep interests in the telecom industry" was part of the conspiracy to frame him.

He said he had informed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of the industrialist's identity.

Singh had alleged on December 25 that intelligence personnel told him that several people, including two officials from the Prime Minister's Office, a journalist MP and Congress President Sonia Gandhi had got together to implicate him in a false case.

Singh said he had repeatedly raised the issue, both in Parliament and with the government, through the home minister and even the prime minister.

On all occasions, the SP leader said he was told that the government was not listening in on any leader's telephone conversation.