On the grounds that the Mumbai police have not secured a sanction from the Centre to prosecute her, senior IPS officer Rashmi Shukla has moved a plea before a city magistrate court seeking a clean chit in the phone tapping case. Shukla is accused of intercepting the phones of several political leaders in the state including that of Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut.
Police had sought sanction from Centre last year
In August last year, the police had filed an application before the city’s Esplanade court that it had sought a sanction to prosecute her. The plea came after it had already named her an accused in its chargesheet filed in April, of which the court was yet to take cognisance.
Shukla accused of tapping phones of Khadse, Raut
The FIR was filed at the Colaba police station by senior police officer Rajiv Jain. Shukla was accused of putting the phone numbers of NCP leader Eknath Khadse and Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut. The IPS officer was booked under the Indian Telegraph Act as well as offences such as that of forgery under the Indian Penal Code. Shukla was heading the State Intelligence Department (SID) during the BJP rule when the alleged phone tapping took place.
In the chargesheet filed against her, among witnesses are Raut, Khadse and officials who worked with her in the SID. The court has directed the police to file a response to her plea on Jan 31.
