A phone-tapping issue has arisen in Bengal, as the Pegasus affair rattles Parliament.
Suvendu Adhikari, a BJP politician, was arrested today on suspicion of having knowledge about phone conversations with police personnel from the office of Abhishek Banerjee, a Trinamool MP and the nephew of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
“I have phone numbers and records of all calls you (the police) get from the nephew’s office,” he declared at a rally in East Medinipur, warning Mr Banerjee “no one will be able to save you”.
Mr Adhikari stated at his meeting that the CBI may shortly investigate the involvement of police officers in reacting to these incidents. “If you have the state government in your hands, we have the federal government in our hands,” he said, adding an ominous threat.
“The CBI may soon investigate the role of the IOs, ICs and OCs. Then you will understand what is what… no aunt will be able to save you (a reference to Mr Banerjee),” he said
Mr Banerjee’s phone number is on a list of suspected targets for monitoring using malware Pegasus, which also includes Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and poll strategist Prashant Kishor, as well as journalists critical of the government.
“It is evident from his remarks that the central government is tapping phones in Bengal,” Trinamool spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said, demanding Mr Adhikari’s arrest.
Mr. Adhikari has been charged with violating the Official Secrets Act and the National Disaster Management Act.
The OSA was used for “wrongful possession of secret government code, passwords, documents, and so on,” while the NDMA was used for convening a political meeting in defiance of a prohibition on such meetings (due to the epidemic) and impeding police officers in the performance of their duties.
Meanwhile, the lawsuit has been rejected by Suvendu Adhikari.
He only mentioned the governing party in response to NDMA allegations, adding, “I can show you dozens of photographs of Trinamool supporters demonstrating in big numbers against gasoline price (increase).”
