Maharashtra: State Congress chief Nana Patole to file Rs 500 cr defamation suit against IPS Rashmi Shukla for illegal phone tapping

Days after police have failed two cases in connection with illegal phone tapping, the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee President Nana Patole on Sunday said he will file a defamation case against IPS Officer Rashmi Shukla for interception of his phone illegally. Patol’e statement came when Pune and Colaba police booked Shukla, who is currently additional director general of police in Central Reserve Police Force at Hyderabad, for illegally tapping phones of several political leaders including Patole during the BJP led government in Maharashtra. Shukla was then the additional director general of police of state intelligence.

Patole said IPS Rashmi Shukla had illegally tapped his phone and now a case has been registered against her. ‘’Shukla tapped my phone under the name of Amjad Khan in connection with drug trafficking. Devendra Fadnavis was the Chief Minister and held the home department. If Fadnavis is involved in illegal tapping, action will also be taken against him. Currently, Shukla is accused of illegally tapping my phone. I had raised the issue in the state assembly. I will file a Rs 500 crore defamation case against Shukla and others,’’ he added.

The high court has granted protection to Shukla from arrest.

Probe into scam in Dharavi redevelopment project

Patole has alleged a massive corruption in the Dharavi redevelopment project. He claimed that although the Fadnavis government paid Rs 800 crore to the Railways for 45 acre land required for the Dharavi rehabilitation project the land has not been transferred yet nor the money disbursed to the Railways.

This is a loot of public money and this scam should be investigated through the Special Investigation Team, said Patole adding that he will appeal to the Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to soon order the probe. ‘’If necessary, I will urge the CM to recommend an inquiry by ED and CBI. I will raise the issue during the ongoing budget session of the state legislature,’’ he noted.

Patole said that the Vilasrao Deshmukh led Congress-NCP government had come up with a plan to change the face of Dharavi to provide better housing to the people of Asia’s largest slum through its transformation. It was also aimed to make Mumbai clean and beautiful. ‘’The scheme was launched by the Fadnavis government, money was transferred to the Railways but it has yet to give land to the government.

On Governor’s remarks on Shivaji & Phule

Patole said that Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, Savitribai Phule are deities for the Congress party. ‘’The Bharatiya Janata Party, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari are constantly insulting our deities. The BJP government in Karnataka is also insulting Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. The people of Maharashtra do not like BJP’s perverted attitude,’’ he added.

‘’BJP wants to project Modi as greater than the leading icons of Maharashtra but the people of state have clearly pointed out that the PM is not great compared to Chhatrapati Shivaji, Mahatma Phule and others,’’ said Patole.

OBC Reservation

Patil alleged that the BJP has been putting roadblocks in the restoration of 27% political reservation to the OBC community. ‘’BJP wants to end the reservation and therefore the Centre does not provide empirical data of the OBC community to the state government. The OBC reservation issue is not restricted to Maharashtra but also in Madhya Pradesh. Does the BJP want to say that the reservation in Madhya Pradesh was cancelled because it is in power? The world knows who brought Kamandal (Hinduva) against the Mandal Commission (reserved classes). BJP is determined to end the Mandal Commission’s recommendations but we will foil its ploy,’’ he said.

Published on: Sunday, March 06, 2022, 07:36 PM IST