IAS Pradeep Sharma (snoopgate petitioner) in Hawala scam net.
The Gujarat Government on Wednesday dropped a bombshell in the Supreme Court in the snoopgate controversy by submitting call transcripts of IAS officer Pradeep Sharma, who is seeking a probe against Chief Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly snooping on a woman. Police are investigating his role in suspicious hawala transaction, owning benami properties and harbouring illicit relationship with several women.
In the affidavit, the State pointed out that “large-scale money” was transferred from India by Sharma in favour of his US-based wife either through some Dubai-based agent or by other modes. The two phones used by the petitioner were registered in the name of private companies in Kutch, bordering Pakistan.
“The said transactions are under an ongoing probe with the help of Financial Intelligence Unit India and Directorate of Enforcement,” the affidavit said. The phones were put on surveillance after specific intelligence inputs were received in 2009 about possibilities that several phones in Gujarat were used for anti-national activities and suspicious financial transactions.
The Additional Chief Secretary (Home) ordered several numbers, including the two numbers used by the applicant (Sharma), to be put on surveillance. More than the suspicious money transactions, the agencies were shocked to note that Sharma amassed benami properties, which were not mentioned in the annual statement of properties to be submitted by all IAS officers every year.
But what surprised the Gujarat Police most was the “highly obscene and pornographic” conversations which Sharma had with several women subordinates and wives of his relatives. The State Government clarified that none of the conversations involved the woman whose name surfaced in the snoopgate controversy. However, to protect the identity of other girls whose names are revealed in the transcripts, the State submitted it to the apex court as annexure in a sealed envelope.
The affidavit said, “
Some of the contents of these conversations are too obscene and pornographic in nature to be made a part of the pleadings or annexure in the present affidavit.” Giving a peek into the contents, the State Government said, “So far as conversations of the applicant containing illicit relationships with several married women are concerned, they happen to be either subordinate officers to the applicant or relatives/friends of the applicant.”
The affidavit came in response to Sharma’s application demanding a CBI probe into contents of a sting operation by two web portals which showed a woman’s phone being put on illegal surveillance by the Gujarat Police with a keen interest shown by former State Home Minister Amit Shah to know about her movements and whereabouts. Exposing Sharma’s credentials, who claimed to be victimised for taking on Modi, the State argued that the attempt to malign the political leadership of the State was timed by certain “vested interests”.
The State indicated that the probe against Sharma was on since 2009. “Taking resort to the irresponsible allegations of malafide by the applicant is clearly an abuse of the process of this court and also to pressurise the State agencies not to take any steps based upon the contents of the conversations as the applicant, being a senior IAS officer, may have come to know about the above referred recordings and the logical legal consequences flowing there from,” the affidavit said.
It further attacked Sharma for choosing an agency like CBI to probe the snoopgate controversy hinting that his brother, IPS officer Kuldeep Sharma, had last year got appointed as Adviser to Union Home Ministry, the nodal Ministry controlling CBI.
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