CBI crisis: Director Alok Verma's order to tap phones of NSA Ajit Doval and others was not illegal, says DIG CBI Manish Sinha

The CBI DIG Manish Kumar Sinha has alleged in his petition that the phone of NSA Ajit Doval and others that were tapped by director Alok Verma was not illegal.

In his petition, Manish has has alleged that the phones that were tapped remained under the constitutional framework and it was not illegal. Whether it was Ajit Doval, Minister of State for Coal or the Union Law Secretary, as all these people were intervening in the investigation of the special director Rakesh Asthana.

The petition submitted by Sinha in the court also note that “The NSA informed the Special Director CBI Rakesh Asthana about registration of FIR” on 17 October. In return “Rakesh Asthana reportedly made a request to NSA that he should not be arrested.”

A former director of the CBI told The Quint in the phone tapping issue that “The CBI Special Unit can put anybody’s mobile phone under surveillance to investigate a case, provided the CBI Director has granted permission to the Investigating Officer (IO). Simultaneously, within three days, the Director has to inform the Ministry of Home Affairs about the tapping and confirm permission within seven days. In the bribery case against Asthana, it appears that mobile phones of those who are named in the FIR were under surveillance. It was not illegal on the part of the CBI Director to give phone-tapping directions to the IO, if he had at the same time moved the files seeking permission from the competent authority.”

A former Home Ministry official said about the phone tapping issue by the CBI that “Only those telephonic conversations can be used as evidence in court which have the permission of the Home Secretary. Without it, the court will not take it as an admissible evidence.”

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