Phone taps should not be leaked, says Chidambaram

New Delhi: Union Home Minister P Chidambaram today expressed himself against leakage of telephone conversations tapped for investigations but felt “some of it is inevitable”.

He was replying to queries from media about his stand on whether the tapes between lobbyist Nira Radia and others should have been brought to public domain.

“See what was recorded was a conversation of a person suspected to have violated tax laws. Now we were not recording the other end. We were recording one end and it so happened that the other end people’s conversation were recorded,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a function to give away awards to Small and Medium Enterprises.

“But I am afraid when there is major scam or a major tax violation, if such conversations are recorded, I don’t think anyone should leak it out.