Stalk-Gate: Woman's father wrote letter to save Narendra Modi, claims IAS officer

New Delhi: Suspended IAS officer Pradeep Sharma has claimed the letter written by father of the woman, who was tailed by Gujarat officials allegedly at the behest of the state government, was false and aimed at saving Narendra Modi.

"He had no other option," he said.

Earlier this week, the woman's father claimed that she was aware that she was being spied upon by senior Gujarat police officers. In his letter to the national and state women's commissions, the father urged against an investigation and said "whatever help was rendered" was based on his request, but he never once mentions why he asked for surveillance.

Two news portals - Gulail and cobrapost.com - recently claimed that audio tapes with the CBI reveal that in 2009, Gujarat's then Home Minister Amit Shah ordered the state's senior police officers to spy on Mr Sharma and a young woman at the behest of a "saheb" or "boss."   

The Congress has alleged that Mr Modi was the "boss" referred to in those conversations, whose authenticity has not been corroborated by the CBI.

But the BJP has cited a letter from the girl's father in which he says he sought protection for his daughter from Narendra Modi, with whom he has had a two-decade long association.

But Mr Sharma told NDTV that he introduced the girl to Mr Modi in January 2004, when he came to inaugurate a park in Bhuj. Mr Sharma, as the Collector of Kutch had commissioned her to design the park. He said the family had no prior association with Mr Modi.

He said the woman and Mr Modi developed an independent association over mobile phones and emails, which she shared with him.

Mr Sharma says that at some point Mr Modi feared that the woman had shared a sensitive video clip with Mr Sharma, and hence placed him under surveillance, as well as slapping him with false charges. 

But the BJP has suggested that Mr Sharma was put under surveillance because it was he who was stalking her.

"If I was stalking her, why was she visiting me at the behest of the Chief Minister?" Mr Sharma said, arguing that the father was forced to write a false letter to protect Mr Modi.

Mr Sharma said his life is in danger in Gujarat and that he be moved out of the state. "I will not get justice in that state," he said.

The senior bureaucrat filed an affidavit today in the Supreme Court asking for a CBI investigation into violations of phone tapping laws by Mr Modi and Mr Shah.

The BJP dismissed the allegations, calling the charges politically-motivated in an election year. "What is Pradeep Sharma's status to comment on this? Matters of criminal offence cannot be dealt like this," the party's Pinky Anand told NDTV.

In 2010, Mr Sharma was suspended by the Gujarat government and then arrested on corruption charges. He was granted bail in 2011.