HP ex-DGP Bhandari lodges FIR in phone tapping case

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, August 14  

Former Himachal DGP I D Bhandari who was booked in phone tapping case in 2014 and won the case in the High Court has lodged an FIR in Chota Shimla police station for falsely implicating him in the case.

The FIR has been registered under Sections 218, 211, 167, 504, 500, 441 and 120(B) of the IPS and Section 26 of the Telegraph Act against unknown persons on the directions of the court.

No name has been mentioned in the FIR as the complaint application submitted in the court contained only the facts of the case.

Bhandari had filed a complaint on May 11 last with the police and the application was sent to police headquarters and then referred vigilance department. In the meantime, he moved an application in the High Court and an FIR was registered on the directions of the court.

When contacted, SP Shimla Omapati Jamwal confirmed that a case has been register on the directions of the court.

The enquiry into alleged phone taping case was ordered after Virbhadra Singh returned to power on December 25, 2012, and a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Vigilance wing headed by a DIG was constituted to probe the matter. 

During the probe, the investigating agencies claimed that 1,400 to 1,500 phones had been illegally taped but when the challan was put after investigations, only two cases were mentioned in the charge sheet. 

"Some senior IAS and IPS officers were instrumental in framing cases against him to serve their own ends,” Bhandari said.