Finance Minister's office bugged?

New Delhi, June 21 (PTI) A reported bugging of the
offices of Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and his
aides in the North Block has raised the hackles of those in
government but an Intelligence Bureau investigation into it
had "found nothing in it".
There was no no official word on the on the alleged
"security breach" in the offices of the Finance Minister and
his aides-- Advisor Omita Paul and Private Secretary Manoj
Pant-- and two conference rooms used by the minister, who had
reportedly written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in
September last year, except a brief statement by Mukherjee.
Mukherjee is said to have urged the Prime Minister to
order a secret inquiry into the "serious breach of security in
his office" in the form of "planted adhesives" in 16 locations
in a possible surveillance attempt.
No live microphone or recording devices were found, he
reportedly said in his letter to the Prime Minister three days
after Central Board of Direct Taxes brought in private
investigators to conduct an electronic sweep of the Ministry's
VVIP chambers.
Confirming a part of the episode, Mukherjee told
reporters that the Intelligence Bureau had made investigation
into reported bugging in his offices and found "nothing".
"In respect of news item regarding bugging in my offices,
the IB investigated into it and found nothing in it," he said
without going into any details.
The main opposition party BJP jumped into the row saying
it was serious issue and deserves to be investigated. "This
has come at a time when there are so many cases of financial
irregularities and scams. Pranab Mukherjee is number two in
the Cabinet.
"Who is bugging its own ministers. It needs to be
investigated. It has raised a lot of disturbing questions."
IB, during its investigations, is said to have found
that some adhesive type material were spotted in a few places
under the table of the Finance Minister and wall of the
conference room.
The adhesive material was carefully collected for
forensic examination after which it was found that it was
nothing other than chewing gum.
The IB, in its report, also said that there was no
groove or cavity in places where the chewing gum was spotted,
official sources said, adding in one of the places, the
adhesive had a paint coating on it suggesting that it had been
there for many months.
In the wake of this episode, CBDT inspectors had been
regularly conducting electronic sweeps of "sensitive
locations" in the finance ministry.