File photo of Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi (Press Trust of India)
The Delhi Police today rejected the allegation of snooping on Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi and said the visit by policemen to his office was a routine practice of being in touch with the dignitaries and there was no malafide in it.
Police Commissioner BS Bassi said such surveys were conducted at the offices of all protected persons from time to time owing to prevention and detection of crime and maintaining of law and order.
"Rahul Gandhi was not targeted by the police. It was a routine activity which is done to keep records of vulnerable personalities. Police also visited houses of Veerappa Moily, LK Advani, K Chandrasekhar Rao among others. There was no malafide intension behind seeking details about Gandhi," Mr Bassi told reporters in New Delhi.
The Commissioner said police was never asked either by Prime Minister Office or Home Ministry to visit Mr Gandhi's residence and asserted that there was no political pressure on the police.
"Two cops went to Rahul Gandhi's residence. Our beat officer Rameshwar went to his house on March 12 and sought details about him. As beat officers are not able to directly meet such persons, they contact their office staff and leave performa pertaining to required details," Mr Bassi said.
According to Mr Bassi, on the same day, the cop went to the houses of MP Krishan Pal Gujjar, Naresh Agarwal, M Veerappa Moily and Telengana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.
Beat officers are instructed to meet the staff of important people living in the area falling under their jurisdiction and keep personal information about them, he also said.
Mr Bassi added that police keeps details of all vulnerable leaders like Amit Shah and Sonia Gandhi.
"Such details are also important in many cases... for instance, if there is any protest outside house of any important leader, cops may face problem in locating the house and identifying their staff without any such information," Mr Bassi said.