Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday told the Kerala Assembly that the Crime Branch (CB) of the State police would investigate the alleged tapping of the phone and email of Vigilance Director Jacob Thomas, who had recently requested the Government to accept his resignation from the post.
Replying to the Opposition’s notice for an adjournment motion on Jacob Thomas’s complaint about the alleged tapping of his phone and email, Pinarayi said, “A probe by the Crime Branch will be appropriate in a matter like this.” The Congress-led UDF Opposition had demanded an impartial probe by a Central agency. The Chief Minister said the Government had not given permission for tapping anybody’s phone and that it was not its policy to tap phones of political leaders or top officials. Jacob Thomas had last week lodged a complaint with DGP loknath Behera about the alleged tapping of his phone and email.
Pinarayi told the House that the Vigilance Director in his complaint had not said that his phone was being tapped but he had only requested for an inquiry to find out whether tapping was being done as mentioned in a report that had appeared in the media. “He had only expressed his anxiety over the report,” he said.
About reports on Jacob Thomas’s letter to the Home Secretary stating his wish for removal from the post of Vigilance Director, the Chief Minister said that the Government had not given permission for “some wishes he had expressed”. The Government wanted a person like Thomas to continue in that position, he added.
Stating that moves were being made against Jacob Thomas–known as an upright police officer and as an anti-corruption crusader–from several corners, Pinarayi said the Government would extend all possible support to him for doing things in the best manner. The lDF Government had posted Thomas as the Vigilance Director immediately after it assumed office in May this year.
The Opposition alleged that the complaint of Jacob Thomas about phone-tapping indicated that a cold war was taking place among the top bureaucrats of the State and that he had put the Government in the dock with his complaint.
Speaking on the adjournment motion for which permission was sought by Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan of the Congress, Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said that it was unbelievable that the Government was unaware of the tapping of the phone and email of an officer holding the second position in the State police hierarchy.
“Jacob Thomas’s complaint about tapping has come at a time when a Vigilance probe was on against EP Jayarajan, who was holding the second position in the Cabinet. The needle of suspicion (in tapping scandal) is pointing towards the Government,” he said.
CPI(M) leader Jayarajan had on October 14 resigned as Industries Minister over nepotism charges.
“It seems that Jacob Thomas is in some kind of fear psychosis” Chennithala said, adding that his phone could not have been tapped without clearance from the Home Secretary and without the knowledge of the Additional DGP (Intelligence). later, the Opposition staged a walkout after the Speaker refused permission for the adjournment motion.