Mumbai: IPS officer Rashmi Shukla booked in phone tapping case

Amid BJP's move to step up attacks on corruption issues and the arrest of NCP minister Nawab Malik, the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government cracked the whip on Saturday. On its directions, the Pune Police have registered an FIR against IPS officer Rashmi Shukla – who is perceived to be close to the BJP – in the phone tapping matter.

Shukla had been charged with illegal phone tapping during her tenure as the Pune Police commissioner and later as the additional director general (ADG) in charge of state intelligence. Shukla is currently on Central deputation and is posted as the ADG of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Hyderabad.

“A case has been registered against Shukla at the Bund Garden police station in Pune for allegations of illegal phone tapping. She was booked under section 26 of the Indian Telegraph Act,” said an official.

According to the Pune Police, a committee was formed to look into the allegations of illegal tapping of politicians' phones between 2015 and 2019 (mainly during the BJP rule) during the monsoon session of the state legislature last year. This was in response to a question asked by a member, state Congress chief Nana Patole. The three-member committee was headed by the former acting director general of police Sanjay Pandey. The committee observed that Shukla had illegally tapped phones and hence a case has been registered against her and others.

Home Minister Dilip Wasle-Patil, in response to a question on whether the government will suspend Shukla, said the government will seek legal opinion as she is currently on Central deputation. Wasle-Patil refuted BJP's charge that the police action taken against Shukla was an act of revenge. “The question does not arise. The action has been taken after accepting the report submitted by the three-member committee,” he noted.

A senior home department official said the committee had said the police are allowed to tap phones as per the legal provisions in connection with public safety, terror acts, delicate situations and international relations. However, the police cannot tap phones other than in connection with such cases. The committee found that Shukla had tapped the phones for reasons other than the permissions she had sought and found this to be illegal.

“It was also found that Shukla tapped the phones of Patole by changing his name as Amjad Khan, minister of state for education Bacchu Kadu as Babu Shaikh, former MP Sanjay Kakde as Abhijit Nair and former legislator Ashish Deshmukh as Mahesh Salunke. Their phones were tapped on the plea that they were involved in the sale of drugs,’’ said the officer.

Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis had cited a letter, purportedly written by Shukla to the then DGP Subodh Jaiswal, about the alleged police transfer racket. The state government had sought an explanation from Shukla but was not satisfied by her response. The former Chief Secretary Sitaram Kunte was asked to conduct an enquiry in the matter.

Kunte had said that Shukla had taken permission to record these calls under the guise of interception of calls of a few people in the interest of public safety and had thus misguided the authorities. “In fact, the interception is done in case of the possibility of a threat to national security and anti-national activities under the Indian Telegram Act to avert any such threats. The interception is not expected for political differences, professional or family disputes. However, Shukla did use the permission for the purpose other than it was meant for, thereby misleading the government and misusing the permission,” the report said.