Intercepting calls to stop graft legal: Delhi HC

The Delhi high court held that intercepting calls to prevent the commission of corruption involving large amounts of money is permissible since such offences have the capacity to influence the public at large.

- Shruti Kakkar

Justice Amit Mahajan delivered the ruling ina plea filed by a man accused of bribery involving a ₹2,149.93 crore project, who sought the destruction of telephonic calls/messages intercepted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Akash Deep Chauhan, the petitioner, said that the case against him was based on calls which were intercepted illegally in contravention of Section 5 of the Indian Telegraph Act, which permits the same in cases of public emergency or in the interest of public safety. Chauhan said such recordings had prejudiced the case against him and that unlawfully obtained call recordings could not be used to incriminate him.