CBI searches house of ex-Bengaluru top cop in phone-tapping case

CBI searches were conducted at the residence of former Bengaluru Police Commissioner Alok Kumar in connection with the alleged tapping of phones of politicians and bureaucrats during the tenure of the Congress-JD(S) government, officials said on Thursday.

The Karnataka government led by B.S. Yediyurappa had announced a CBI probe after disqualified JD(S) MLA A.H. Vishwanath, who served as the party's state president but became a rebel, accused the H.D. Kumaraswamy dispensation of tapping phones and spying on more than 300 people, including him.

The Central agency has taken over the investigation in the matter from the cyber-crime wing of the Bengaluru Police and registered a case against unidentified people in August, officials said.

"It has come to the notice of the government that there are apprehensions that phones of several ruling and opposition political leaders, their relatives and other government officials have been intercepted in an illegal unauthorised unwarranted manner," the letter entrusting the probe to the CBI said.

Source