South Block denies defence minister’s office was bugged
02 Mar 2012
The defence ministry has refuted reports on the alleged bugging of the defence minister's office in South Block, saying routine checks are being conducted in the offices of the defence ministry and other offices in the South Block and that the checks have not revealed anything so far.
Reports had said that the defence ministry authorities have detected signs of bugging at the office room of defence minister A K Antony and that the Intelligence Bureau (IB) has been asked to probe the matter.
The incident, reports say, dates back to 16 February when the matter came to the notice of defence secretary Shashikant Sharma, who took up the matter with the IB for a probe.
Reports said the alleged bugging of the defence minister's office was detected by military intelligence after a routine check on 16 February.
Using hand-held detectors, Military Intelligence had detected the presence of gum sticks used for installing monitoring devices in Antony's office. The security at the ministry immediately asked the MI to leave.
The incident followed the row over the age of the present Army chief that ended with the intervention of the Supreme Court.
