Maha government all set to rehabilitate IPS officer accused of phone-tapping

A senior minister revealed that Shukla’s ‘homecoming’ was expected to take a few more months. “The government can consider appointing her as Mumbai Commissioner of Police after the BMC elections, by which time the empanelment procedure is expected to be completed

The Shinde-Fadnavis government has embarked on the process of rehabilitating Rashmi Shukla, the controversial IPS officer who has cases of illegal phone-tapping against her. After initiating moves to clear these cases, the government is likely to send a report to the Centre for Shukla’s empanelment for the post of director-general of police (DGP).

IPS officer Rashmi Shukla (Pratham Gokhale/HT PHOTO)

A senior minister revealed that Shukla’s ‘homecoming’ was expected to take a few more months. “The government can consider appointing her as Mumbai Commissioner of Police after the BMC elections, by which time the empanelment procedure is expected to be completed. Her transfer to Maharashtra can happen anytime without waiting for the empanelment, but the government is wary of the political reaction. Empanelment can give it a legitimate reason for her appointment.”

Shukla, who has been on central deputation since February 2021, is currently serving in Hyderabad as additional director general of the Central Reserve Police Force. She is facing three cases registered in Pune and Mumbai for illegally tapping the phones of political leaders like state Congress chief Nana Patole, former BJP minister Eknath Khadse and Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut among others. The tapping had reportedly taken place when she was posted as Pune police commissioner and commissioner of the state intelligence department between March 2016 and February 2021.

The Pune police recently submitted a closure report in court in one of the phone-tapping cases. The other case was registered in Colaba police station and the third by the cyber police for leaking the phone-tapping report. The case was transferred to the CBI after the Shinde-Fadnavis government came to power in the state.

“After the closure report by the Pune police and permission denied by the home department for prosecution in the Colaba case, we are expecting clearance by the respective courts,” said an official from the home department. “We expect the CBI case to be closed soon, after which the vigilance clearance report will be submitted to the Centre. This will clear the decks for the actual clean chit to the officer followed by her empanelment as DG at the national level. The state government could, however, request the Centre to relieve her to serve in her home cadre anytime.”

Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is also the home minister of the state, had said last week that there was not enough proof against Shukla and that his government would not allow “victimisation” of any officer. An officer from the home department corroborated this stand. “This dispensation’s stand is that Shukla was selectively targeted by the previous Thackeray government,” he said. “When a bunch of officials from the police and home departments were all part of the phone-tapping, the case was registered only against her.”