Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 17 (IANS): Leader of Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan Tuesday described the Kerala government's act of snooping into email accounts as fascist.

In a statement issued, Achuthanandan slammed Chief Minister Oommen Chandy for "following in the footsteps of the American administration and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi".

"We wish to know from Chandy if former Rajya Sabha member P.V. Abdul Wahab and legislator Abdul Samad Samadhani, both belonging to the ruling front ally Indian Union Muslim League, have terrorist connections and is it because of that their emails were snooped into?" asked Achuthanandan.

On Monday, news surfaced that the Intelligence Department here was snooping into the email accounts of 189 Muslim leaders, including journalists and politicians.

The Intelligence Department had asked email providers like Google, Yahoo and Hotmail to provide the logs of these people who belonged to the Muslim community.

As soon as the report appeared in a Malayalam daily and a magazine, Chandy asked newly appointed Additional Director General of Police (Intelligence) T.P. Senkumar to probe the allegations.

"This act by the government is an intrusion of the privacy of individuals and all wish to know what the IUML has to say on this," asked Achuthanandan.

State IUML general secretary K.P.A. Majeed said the chief minister has already ordered an investigation.

"So now let the probe report come out, and then we will react to it," said Majeed.

The Kerala Union of Working Journalists also condemned the tracking of emails and tapping of telephones of journalists.