The Delhi High Court on Friday asked Supreme Court lawyer Suren Uppal to submit telephone conversations of corporate executives, Cabinet ministers and bureaucrats that were allegedly tapped by the Essar Group between 2001 and 2006 to the Ministry of Home Affairs on Monday. The vacation bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and AK Pathak, which was hearing a plea seeking a court-monitored inquiry by a special investigation team, ordered Uppal to submit the conversation in a sealed cover.

Former Essar security chief employee Albasit Khan had filed a complaint in the Prime Minister’s Office regarding the tapped conversations on June 1. In the 29-page complaint, Khan's lawyer Uppal said the recorded conversations indicated “corruption in the business milieu” and a nexus between businesses and the government.

According to Uppal, Essar’s Chief Executive Officer Prashant Ruia and Vice-Chairman Ravikant Ruia asked Khan to tap the phones in 2001. They allegedly told him that since the company was a telecom licensee it was required by the government to help in investigations by intercepting and tapping phones that are under state surveillance.