No Pegasus Used? Haryana CID’s Shady Track Record Raises Serious Questions
Gustakhi Maaf Haryana – Pawan Kumar Bansal
The Haryana Government claims that no Pegasus spyware was used for surveillance of political opponents. However, the track record of the Haryana CID remains shady and continues to be under a cloud of suspicion.
The actions of Prem Singh and Raj Singh, two Haryana CID personnel from Rohtak, had once led to the toppling of the Chandrashekhar-led Union Government. They were caught indulging in surveillance outside the Delhi residence of Rajiv Gandhi.
During the tenure of Bhajan Lal as Chief Minister, Surinder Singh, son of former Chief Minister Bansi Lal, demanded the arrest of then DIG (CID) J.P. Atray, accusing him of placing him under surveillance. A parallel line was allegedly installed at the landline phone in the Chief Minister’s suite at Haryana Bhawan, New Delhi, for tapping the phone calls of then CM B.D. Gupta. CID bosses have repeatedly indulged in politics. The list of such incidents is endless and will be discussed in detail in my upcoming book, “Inside Story of Haryana Police.”
Replying to a question raised by Congress MLA Neeraj Sharma in the State Assembly some years ago, the government clarified that Haryana had not purchased the much-tainted Pegasus software from Israel for surveillance of political opponents. It was also stated that a delegation from Haryana, including some IPS officers, had visited Israel, apparently to study intelligence operations.
Haryana CID has often been at loggerheads with the media. The following examples are only the tip of the iceberg.
About three decades ago, the Congress withdrew support from the Chandrashekhar-led Union Government, arguing that two Haryana CID cops were indulging in surveillance outside the house of Rajiv Gandhi.
The CID is believed to have huge unaccounted money, and its Delhi operations are reportedly conducted from Nabha House. It has allegedly indulged in nefarious activities such as censoring letters, illegally tapping phones of political opponents of the Chief Minister, and using gunmen and drivers to gather information.
Home Minister Anil Vij once caught two CID personnel posted outside his office in the Civil Secretariat.
Then Chief Minister O.P. Chautala had to quit following the “Meham in Meham” episode, after which B.D. Gupta took over. Gupta was shocked to discover that the contents of his telephonic conversations with a friend—made from the landline phone in the CM’s suite at Haryana Bhawan, New Delhi—were available with his political opponents. Those days, there were no mobile phones. His DIG (CID), Vikas, discovered that parallel lines had been secretly installed on his phone by the previous CID chief, who was loyal to Chautala.
When Haryana Vikas Party MP Jai Parkash fell out with his boss Bansi Lal, he alleged that DIG (CID) Satyender Kumar had put him under surveillance.
When then Electricity Minister Jaswant Singh resigned from the Bansi Lal government over the issue of privatization of the electricity sector, he threatened to sue the then DIG (CID) chief, accusing him of interfering in his private life by placing him under surveillance.
Once, while Bansi Lal was in opposition, he himself caught two CID personnel.
During Bhupinder Hooda’s tenure, CID boss P.V. Rathi was eyeing an Assembly ticket for his wife, while the wife of M.S. Malik contested elections on a Lok Dal ticket.
The actions of two Haryana CID personnel led to the fall of the Chandrashekhar-led Union Government. Three cheers to social media and the Supreme Court, and its Chief Justice Surya Kant, for staying the Aravalli order of the 100-metre criterion. Union Environment Minister Bhupinder Yadav and Cabinet Minister Manohar Lal should resign for shamelessly defending the 100-metre criterion.