Tapped talk is ACB evidence
Renni Abraham
That telephone tapping aids in investigation is well known. Now, the Anti
Corruption Bureau (ACB) has submitted transcripts of phone conversations
between former director general of police (housing) Rahul Gopal as evidence
of his ill-gotten wealth (Rs one lakh seized from his official vehicle on
December 8, 2004.
The ACB’s 2,500-page charge-sheet against Gopal and astrologer Govind
Chandok was submitted to the special ACB court on January 8, 2007, and
investigators are awaiting the view the court takes on the phone tapped
evidence.
According to a well placed official, “The ACB routinely taps telephones of
government servants against whom corruption complaints are lodged with it.
There the idea is to verify the accuracy of the complaint so that a trap may
subsequently be laid. In the Gopal case also specific information was
received, following which Chandok’s telephone was tapped and conversations
he had with Gopal and others were recorded. But this is not a red-handed
trap case.”
The bureau is confident of the transcripts’ value as evidence as they
clearly establish his conversation regarding the money for accomplishing as
specific task within his discretion as a government servant for a
consideration.”
Gopal, who was subsequently arrested on December 21, 2004, has maintained
all along that the Rs one lakh seized from his official vehicle was a
friendly load given to him by Chandok.
The official added that based on the information provided by the transcripts
the ACB was able to raid the Pedder road guest house where Chandok was
staying on the particular day that Gopal arrived to collect his share.
“He left Chandok’s room and walked down the staircase with a briefcase and
was accosted by the ACB sleuths as he sat in his official vehicle. A search
of his briefcase and person revealed the cash. Similarly Rs one lakh was
recovered from Chandok as well. The transcripts and the events on the day of
the ACB raid at the guest house match, with the former corroborating the
case made out against Gopal by the ACB,” the official added.