MH-PHONE TAPPING-FADNAVIS

My govt didn't tap phones, but state free to probe: Fadnavis
    Mumbai, Jan 24 (PTI) Amid allegations that the
previous BJP-led dispensation in Maharashtra tapped the phones
of opposition leaders, former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis
on Friday said phone-tapping was not the culture of the state
and his government had not given any such orders.
    He also said that the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA)
government was free to conduct an inquiry into the phone-
tapping charges against the previous BJP-led dispensation.
    "Phone-tapping is not the culture of Maharashtra. My
government had not given any such orders," Fadnavis, who is
the Leader of Opposition in the state Legislative Assembly,
said in a statement.
    "The whole country knows the credibility of those who
have levelled such allegations," Fadnavis, who was the chief
minister of the state between 2014 and 2019, said.
    "The state government is free to probe the allegations
with the help of any machinery. People of Maharashtra know the
truth. A Shiv Sena leader was the minister of state for home
during my tenure," he added.
    "I have a request- the government should immediately
conduct an inquiry and make the report public. If it wants to
go to Israel for the probe, it should do that," he said.
    His remarks come a day after Maharashtra Home Minister
Anil Deshmukh alleged that the Fadnavis dispensation had
misused the government machinery to tap the phones of
opposition leaders, especially during the formation of the MVA
government.
    The minister had said that the cyber cell of
Maharashtra police has been directed to look into various
complaints of snooping/phone-tapping against the Fadnavis
government.
    Deshmukh had also said that the government was trying
to find those officers, who had been reportedly sent to Israel
to study the snooping software then. PTI MR
NP NP

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)