Vodafone Essar, the cellphone service provider of Saxena and over 50 million customers, says it did not share Saxena’s CDRs with a third party. “We are thoroughly investigating this matter,” said a company spokesperson adding that an “internal inquiry” was on to find out whether any “unauthorised access” occurred at its end.

Sources in the company said a team from its UK office was also flown in to determine if processes in place could be bypassed to get such information.

“As per law, we are required to share such information only with designated officers from Government agencies, usually law-enforcement and security agencies after a formal written request from them,” said the spokesperson.

In Delhi, for example, a request for obtaining call detail records (CDRs) has to be made by a designated Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP).

This evening, when a reporter of The Indian Express called up Vodafone Essar seeking call details of the last 30 days on his personal phone, a customer executive said the company does not provide incoming call details to the subscriber himself or even outgoing call details if these are outside the monthly billing cycle.

Court orders are another way to secure phone records of a subscriber, but for this to happen, one needs to satisfy the court about the legality, bonafide and necessity of the request in this regard.

The matter becomes much more serious in case of phone-tapping in which case a written approval of Home Secretary of the state is necessary. Vodafone sources said that access to CDRs within the company, too, is limited to very few “senior and relevant” officials given its “sensitive nature.”