Former MP Home Minister Bhupendra Singh Accuses Sagar Cops Of Accessing CDRs Illegally

Sagar (Madhya Pradesh): BJP MLA and former Madhya Pradesh home minister Bhupendra Singh has alleged that some police officials in Sagar district were illegally accessing call data records or CDRs, and misusing the data to threaten or extort money.

While Singh's accusations came as embarrassment for his own party's government, a senior police official denied them. He raised the issue at the meeting of the Sagar district planning committee chaired by deputy chief minister and guardian minister Rajendra Shukla on Wednesday, Bhupendra Singh told reporters here.

"There are complaints that (police say) your CDR is with us, we can do this and that," said Singh who is said to be close to Union minister and former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

CDRs are accessed to track missing people or for investigation with the permission of a Superintendent of Police (SP) and Inspector General of Police (IG), but in these cases no such permission was being obtained, the MLA alleged.

"This has been going on in the district for the last five-six months," Singh added. When contacted, Sagar zone IG Pramod Verma told PTI that the local SP assured the MLA in Wednesday's meeting itself that CDRs were not being accessed without authorisation.

A proper procedure is followed and paper trail is maintained whenever the data is required for investigation, he said, adding that if the MLA comes out with specific complaints and names any person, "we will be happy to investigate." "We have already started our in-house inquiry," the official said.

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