Addressing media on Tuesday, Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said the central government is examining a letter sent by a group of non-government organisations (NGOs) that have sought action in the “Snoopgate” controversy linked to the Gujarat Government and to Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
“We are examining it,” Shinde said when asked for action taken on the letter written by about 45 NGOs to President Pranab Mukherjee.
It maybe recalled that two news portals, Cobrapost and Gulail, had claimed on November 15 that former Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah had ordered the illegal surveillance of a woman in the state at the behest of one “saheb”.
Both portals had accessed 267 audio recordings that had been handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
They said the recordings contain telephone conversations in which Amit Shah, the BJP national general secretary and a close aide of Modi, directing the illegal surveillance of a young woman — christened ‘Madhuri’ by the journalists to protect her identity — in August-September 2009.
Shah had allegedly ordered the intrusive surveillance of the woman at the behest of someone mentioned on the supposed recordings of the event only as “saheb”, whom many commentators have taken to mean was Gujarat Chief Minister Modi.
The BJP has dismissed the charges as part of “dirty tricks” by the Congress in the lead-up to the polls.
The BJP acknowledges that Modi had used government resources to monitor “the girl,” but did so because her father had requested security for her, so it was not a violation of her rights.
Till date, neither Modi nor the Gujarat government has officially commented on the transcripts. (ANI)