Bhaskar Hazarika
NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) termed illegal tapping of phone as a “serious offence.”
TRAI said that any individual or a firm without license and proper official documents are barred from tapping any private or public phone.
“As per the license conditions telecom companies are not allowed to do illegal phone tapping. However, there is a law that allows security agencies to tap phone lines but if that law is used by non-policeman or a non-security agency it's a serious breach,” a TRAI official said.
The official said the regulator is responsible for verification of the license conditions if they receive any illegal phone tapping case and the vigilance agencies carry out the investigation. However, the official refused to comment on the phone tapping case of Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh.
Meanwhile, Delhi police today arrested the “key accused” in connection with the Amar Singh's phone tapping case.
Vijay Dhawan, the prime accused, according to police, had forged letter of sanction for phone tapping. The accused was produced before the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, who remanded him to three days' police custody. Dhawan is the fourth person arrested in connection with the phone tapping case.
The other three accused were Bhupendra Kumar and Anurag Singh, both owners of detective agencies, and Kuldeep Singh, a Reliance Infocomm employee.
The central government has been maintaining that tapping Amar Singh's phone was organised by a private party for monetary and other gains.