Continued from page 01 Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had himself chosen the investigators for the job.
Deshmukh had made an announcement in this regard on February 3 naming Shrikant Singh, additional chief secretary of home department and Amitesh Kumar, joint commissioner of State Intelligence Department as the probe team. A report was supposed to be submitted to him within six weeks. But mid- day has learnt that the file containing Deshmukhu2019s instructions has not moved yet.
One of the investigators told midday that no letter of appointment and terms of reference were given to him till Thursday evening. Deshmukh wasnu2019t available for comment despite repeated calls and text messages.
Sources said some senior police officers have objected to Kumaru2019s appointment over his relatively limited experience. Kumar, an IPS officer of the 1995 batch, is due for promotion to the rank of additional director general of police. Some IPS officers want a DG rank officer to replace Kumar, said a Mantralaya official.
A senior bureaucrat said, u201c How can the home ministeru2019s announcement or choice be challenged by the administration and police department? Once the names were declared and deadline for submitting probe report given, the investigations should have started with a formal intimation to the probing team. People are seeing the delay in different perspectives.
Some say it is a deliberate effort to delay the probe while others say some officers donu2019t want to be probed. Who are the officials who donu2019t want an inquiry?u201d The Cabinet has repeatedly discussed the issue and wants the probe report to be tabled before it for discussion and further action.
The probe According to Deshmukhu2019s media statement, he wanted the panel to identify officers and politicians who were allegedly involved in snooping. He also said that the probe would also name senior officers who allegedly went to Israel to procure a tapping software. He said several Sena, NCP and Congress leaders have complained to him about the tapping and wanted him to probe it thoroughly.
A brief note on the terms of reference of the probe, which the minister released in the media, said: u201c The inquiry should cover not only the legal documentation but also take the support of technical experts to decipher if unofficial surveillance has been carried out by tracing the footprint in the servers of various telecom companies through physical verification and visits.u201d u2018 How can home ministeru2019s order be challenged?u2019 Bureaucrats question delay in probe that aims to identify officers and politicians allegedly involved in snooping during Assembly polls 2019 u2018 People are seeing the delay in different perspectives. Some say it is a deliberate effort to delay the probe while others say some officers donu2019t want to be probed.
Who are the officials who donu2019t want an inquiry?u2019 A senior bureaucrat 6 No. of weeks within which the team was supposed to submit the probe report REPRESENTATION PIC
