chandigarh as part of its state action plan for 201415 the parkash singh badalled government in punjab placed an order for room bugs and button cameras it has also placed orders for bug detectors to trace surveillance equipment that may have been used against tops ministers while the purchase of bugs will be made for the vigilance department that is headed by the chief minister the detectors will be bought for the special protection unit spu headed by deputy chief minister sukhbir badal the spu which protects the cm and sukhbir will get three bug detectors each costing rs 209 lakh the unit has also decided to purchase a sniper detector worth rs 90 lakh spu was formed by the deputy cm in 2011 as many as 11 electric stretoscopes worth rs 125 lakh each and a buster for detection of explosives worth rs 15 lakh would also be procured the plan was approved in august by a state level empowered committee headed by chief secretary sarvesh kaushal principal secretary home jagpal singh punjab dgp sumedh singh saini and principal secretary finance vini mahajan when asked why they were bought officials refused to give a straight answer many in the opposition believe that government uses the police machinery to eavesdrop on political opponents what happened in 2008 when the akali government allowed tapping of the judiciary was blatant misuse of offair and secret surveillance gadgets the equipment is being purchased only to listen in to personal conversations of politicians or media and armtwist them democracy is being murdered and constitution is being violated by akalis said punjab pradesh congress committee ppcc chief partap bajwa no punjab government official either in the police or the administration was ready to speak to toi on the issue several text messages and phone calls to the chief secretary yielded no response a january 11 2009 letter leaked in november 2012 by a sitting supreme court judge justice tirath singh thakur to then chief justice of india had alleged that the punjab police chief and the then director of vigilance sumedh singh saini had fabricated evidence against nine judges of the high court in 2008 by placing telephones of two individuals under surveillance thakur had questioned sainis motives for conducting the exercise saying that the ips officer had done phone tapping after one of the judges justice mehtab singh gill had directed a cbi investigation against him in a case of custodial killing