My phone has been tapped: Karnataka Lokayukta

Karnataka Lokayukta Justice Santosh N Hegde, who is probing illegal mining in the state, on Thursday claimed that his phone has been tapped.

Hegde, a former Supreme Court judge, told PTI that after reports of alleged bugging in the office of Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee surfaced, he had asked a professional to carry out a check in his office.

"(The professional) told me that my telephone has been tapped. Every conversation was being recorded from two sources," he said.

Hegde refused to comment on who could have tapped his phone. The tapping had been going on for the past three-four months, he said.

"Yes, I can say in the affirmative that I suspect (my phone is being tapped). The person told me this (my phone) is being tapped and recorded in two places," he said.

Hegde is slated to submit the Lokayukta's second and final report on illegal mining in the state by Friday, but it was leaked by sections of the media on Wednesday, raising a political storm.

Onkar Singh adds from New Delhi

Meanwhile, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni on Thursday said, "I have seen the newspaper reports about the allegations made by Mr Hegde about the phone tapping and why he changed his number. First of all he is not specific. He does not say who was tapping the phone. Unless he comes out with the details it would not be possible to say anything specific."

"Maybe he changed his phone number because he felt guilty. Maybe he was doing something which he knew was wrong and hence he decided to have a new number," she added.

Asked whether the Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa should tender his resignation in view of the comments made by Justice Hegde in his report on the mining in the state, she said the report has not yet reached the government.

"It is for him to decide to quit. He has been trying to protect himself. People of India want transparency. The law of the land is above all. The BJP, which harps on clean public life, should ask him to go," she said.