EX-HP DGP lodges FIR in phone-tapping case
SHIMLA: Former Himachal Pradesh director general of police (DGP) ID Bhandari has lodged an FIR in the Chotta Shimla police station for falsely implicating him in the infamous phone-tapping case of 2014.
An FIR has been registered under Sections 218, 211, 167, 504, 500, 441 and 120(B) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 26 of the Telegraph Act against unknown persons on the directions of the High Court.
On May 11 this year, Bhandari had filed a complaint with the police and the application was sent to police headquarters and then referred to the vigilance department. In the meantime, Bhandari also moved Himachal Pradesh high court seeking registration of an FIR in the case.
Shimla superintendent of police (SP) Omapati Jamwal confirmed that a case has been register on the directions of the court. FIR contains no name as complaint by Bhandari mentions only the facts of the case.
Bhandari, a 1982-batch IPS officer, was removed from the post of DGP by Virbhadra Singh on his return to power in 2012, alleging that the previous BJP government had resorted to telephone tapping under Bhandari, who was then the additional DGP (CID). An inquiry was also ordered by the Virbhadra government.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of vigilance wing headed by a DIG rank officer conducted the probe and booked Bhandari in 2014.
The SIT had claimed that 1,400 to 1,500 phones were illegally taped but the chargesheet filed in the court mentioned only two numbers.
However, later, Bhandari was discharged in the case by a lower court in 2016 and he had also won the case in the HC.
Bhandari had alleged that some senior IAS and IPS officers were behind framing him in the false case.