K Padmakumar, Inspector General, Kochi Range, on Thursday filed an inquiry report before the Home Secretary on allegations of tapping of phone of NSS general secretary G Sukumaran Nair.
Speaking to Express, Padmakumar said during the inquiry, they could not find anything substantiating Sukumaran’s claim that his phone was being tapped.
According to police officials, the inquiry was carried out to ascertain whether any police officer had tapped Sukumaran’s phone.
“There are several methods by which phone could be tapped. But our inquiry into the matter did not reveal anything. First, a Range Inspector General can put a phone under surveillance for seven days with the permission of Home Secretary. A police officer or intelligence agencies can put the phone of any citizen under surveillance with the direct permission of Home Secretary only for national security purpose. Another method is the use of off-air GSM monitoring device. But this device is banned in India and not even top-secret agencies use it. It costs `4-6 crore. But we do not think that any individual person would be able to afford such an expensive device,” they said.
