The Finance Ministry on Friday said that no bugging device was found within its premises, including the office of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, and the suspicious adhesive discovered was chewing gum-like material.
Minister of State for Finance S S Palanimanickam informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply that security audits are periodically conducted in the ministry and Mukherjee's office.
One such routine security check was conducted on September 4, 2010, by the Investigation Directorate of the CBDT, which engaged the services of an expert with the domain knowledge of the subject, he said.
During this check, adhesive-like substances were noticed at various locations, Palanimanickam added.
"This was brought to the notice of the Prime Minister by the Union Finance Minister in September 2010," he said.
The Prime Minister directed the Intelligence Bureau to conduct a secret inquiry into the matter.
"Adhesive patches were found stuck at a few places. The adhesive patches were subjected to chemical\forensic analysis, which revealed that the substance contained contents comparable with contents of chewing gum," the minister added.
Physical examination of the recovered substance did not reveal any sign or mark suggestive of any device having been attached thereto.
"Thereafter, all these premises have been subjected to regular screening. During these exercises, no devices have been detected," Palanimanickam added.
In June this year, the government faced a controversy of alleged snooping of the offices of Mukherjee and his aides in the North Block.
