Centre seeks details on Hegde phone tapping

BANGALORE: The Union Home Ministry has sought details from the Karnataka government on the tapping of Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde’s telephone.The letter was sent based on Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa’s communication to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on July 25 to set up a committee comprising former PM H D Deve Gowda, External Affairs Minster S M Krishna and Hegde, daring them to prove the charges against him.Following this letter, the Prime Minister’s Office forwarded the CM’s letter to the Union Home Ministry to get more information on the phone tapping charges by the Lokayukta.The letter reached the state government a couple of days ago. In response to the letter from the Home Ministry, Principal Secretary (Home department) S M Jamdar denied the charges.“We are not tapping anyone’s phone including the Lokayukta’s,” he is said to have mentioned in the letter, the source said. After Hegde had alleged that his phones were tapped, the CM had sought a probe into the issue.