The Himachal Pradesh Government on Thursday rejected the statement of former IPS officer, ID Bhandari, in which he had accused some senior State Government officials of corruption and said no phones were tapped illegally.
“It appears to be an outburst of a frustrated officer nurturing political ambitions. Investigation in the phone tapping case was at final stage and chargesheet would be filed in the court soon,” a spokesman of the State Government said in a statement.
Bhandari on Wednesday had alleged that Himachal was saddled with the most corrupt Government where the top bureaucrat and a top adviser, against whom corruption cases were registered, were calling the shots. Bhandari, who retired on April 30, stated that despite all efforts, the investigating agencies had failed to name any officer or police personnel in the FIR about the much hyped phone tapping case. “The truth is no phone was ever intercepted illegally or unlawfully. Even after more than a year of investigation, why has no one been named in the FIR and why even one phone number of illegal
interception has not been made public till date,” he had retortedIJ
Countering the allegations, the spokesperson said the State Government as per its election promise, soon after taking over the reins in the State, initiated probe into the illegal phone tapping along with other cases of corruption and malpractices during the previous Government tenure. “Feeling the heat of the probe, Bhandari was issuing such baseless and unfounded statements at the behest of his political mentors,” the statement said.
The spokesman said there was widespread public opinion regarding illegal phone tapping done during the BJP regime and accordingly action was taken by the Government as per the law of the land. He said that the record was taken in possession by the Government in order to ensure that the same was not destroyed after the change in Government in the State. He said that now when the people were hoping that the defaulters would be brought to book, those involved in this unlawful act were making unnecessary hue and cry.
The spokesman said it was unfortunate that senior officer after retirement was critical of the action of the Government whereas he was part of the Government few days back. He added that Bhandari was airing his frustration in public which was uncalled for and was an indication of his political alliance with the BJP.
He said that it was untoward on the part of Bhandari that he was questioning the integrity of the acting Chief Secretary.
The spokesman said that the alleged issue was investigated by the previous BJP Government in 2011 and nothing untoward was found. He said that now by raking up the same old issue, Bhandari was trying to blow the trumpet of BJP leaders.