The city police on Wednesday registered an FIR against a man alleged to have been spying on political party and student leaders, who had been staging protests against the participation of Sri Lankan cricketers in IPL matches here, on behalf of a private security agency.
According to the FIR, which was registered following a complaint from a lawyer, the man was reported to have been employed by the IPL management.
Police sources said that the city-based lawyer and secretary of Tamil Nadu People’s Rights Forum, Pugalenthi, had alleged that he had received information about Gorki Chandola who, on behalf of a private security agency, had been camping in the city and had been indulging in espionage activities. The FIR said that the complainant had received information through his sources that Chandola had been using ‘off the air’ equipment to monitor phone conversations of Tamil activists, political leaders, student activists, advocates, journalists and a few police officers.
Following the complaint, which the city police claimed they received through a registered post on Tuesday, the Cyber Crime Wing registered a case under Section 66 of Information Technology Act and Section 6 of Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act. They began investigations into the complaint and said that they were inquiring if a man by that name was really snooping around in the city
tapping phone conversations of the particular group of people.