New Delhi:
Imagine if it was possible to know the exact strategy of a rival political party: Campaign dates, names of key campaigners and amount of money to be spent, that too much before the party has given out the details out to its own members.
Well, this is far from fantasy. We live in this reality, according to former intelligence officials, who are part of that increasing tribe of information gatherers.
The magic wand they are talking about - Off-air GSM monitoring - the most covert technology in information snooping.
"Some corporate houses are close to a political party and they may give them money, but supplying information to the close friends may be a normal thing. Ruling parties have the advantage of getting information from their agencies. The Opposition would like to have its own agencies. Maybe industrial houses, detectives, they may use them," said Malloy Dhar, former chief of the Intelligence Bureau.
All that off-air GSM monitoring requires is a powerful antenna. The battery-powered monitoring system is about the size of a laptop. Once switched on, it can pick up every cell phone call being made in a five-kilometre range. What's more, the system cannot be traced by counter-surveillance agencies because it acts just like a radio set or a listening device.
What's made the device more frightening is the fact that the government did not know of its existence till 2010. It means many GSM Monitoring Devices were imported under general licences.
The government has no record, only guesstimates, of how many that exactly is.
"My inquiries with the government authorities have revealed that during the last three years, 1100 GSM monitoring interceptors were imported," said Mr Dhar.
The government has since then put this in a restricted license and even issued notices threatening strict action unless such equipment is returned. Obviously, no one has come forward.
Sources in the Telecom Department and Home Ministry suspect that among the buyers are large corporate houses, politically-aligned detective agencies and even government agencies who are not authorised to carry out cellphone taps.
"Such equipment is available in the market, and if the cost is right then this will give an advantage to those who own it. There is no doubt that rival parties want to know about each other. The easiest way to do that is intercept their calls, learn about their programmes and modus operandi. Politicians do come to us and ask us for this, but we tell them that there are legal ways of gathering information," said Sanjay Deswal, a detective.
Even today, a Google search throws up enough information about where to get a GSM Monitor. It costs anywhere between Rs 80 lakh-3 crore.
And smuggling it in nowadays may be difficult but not impossible.
Cellphone tapping is not new: Amar Singh's political career fell to an extensive tapping operation carried out by detectives allegedly at the behest of his political rivals.
The Finance Ministry too was possibly snooped: The evidence being sticking glue for microphone bugs found in Pranab Mukherjee's office.
Unlike the glue, bugs and tapes, the GSM device leaves no trace and does not even surface in counter-surveillance operations.