NEW DELHI, June 23: Home Minister Indrajit Gupta today held a meeting of senior officials including Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief Arun Bhagat in connection with the controversy over recent IB visits to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office in the Capital.

Gupta summoned the meeting following reports that the IB had placed senior ED officials, including director M K Bezbaruah, under surveillance. The Home Ministry has however already denied that the IB had conducted any ``raid'' at the ED offices. The visits by IB officials had been pre-arranged, the minister has stated.

But the episode has created speculation about the nature of the IB interest in an investigative agency -- including charges that the IB was trying to scuttle an ED inquiry against some prominent economic offenders. Other reports however say the surveillance was mounted on the behest of the Finance Ministry itself, and was triggered by leaks of sensitive information from the ED relating to some cases. Finance Minister P Chidambaram himself has downplayed the reported IB inquiry.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.