Delhi Police launches probe into hoax caller imitating Sonia

Attorney General G E Vahanvati has complained to the Delhi police over a hoax call he received from a woman imitating Congress President Sonia Gandhi regarding some high profile cases in the Supreme Court following which a police probe has begun.

Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said Delhi Police has begun a preliminary enquiry into the hoax telephone call.

A Delhi Police spokesperson said it has received a complaint from the Attorney General of India.

"We have received a complaint from the Attorney General and we are conducting a preliminary enquiry into it," the spokesperson said. The alleged hoax caller was stated to be a woman PSU officer.

The spokesperson said this when asked to comment on a media report that the woman had imitated Sonia and managed to convincingly sound unhappy while talking to Vahanvati over what she said was his handling of several crucial and high profile cases, including those related to coal allocations.

"As soon as something of public interest comes to light we will inform the press," the spokesperson said.

According to the media report, the alleged hoax caller pretending to be Sonia told Vahanvati that she was calling from New York--where she was actually staying at that time for a medical checkup. She had left for abroad on September two and returned on September 11.

The woman pretending to be Sonia is stated to have told him that he should consider "lying low and taking fewer responsibilities."

BJP national spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad in reply to a question on the issue said the party would like to speak about the issue after going through all the facts amid speculation that the hoax call could have been an attempt to influence the coal allocation scam case.

Prasad, however, utilised the media report to take a swipe at Vahanvati.

"But we would like to ask how many leaders is the Attorney General talking to about the pending corruption cases." He also sought to know whether the AG routinely takes up calls on such cases.

Prasad claimed that for the first time in the history of independent India the high office of Attorney General had to depose in a corruption case, referring to the 2G spectrum.