Oppn accuses govt of shielding Rashmi Shukla in phone-tapping case

Congress MLA Nana Patole said the closure report was submitted without an inquiry. “The phones were tapped to blackmail the opposition leaders. I am one of the victims of this illegal activity. The speaker should admit our adjournment notice and allow a debate on it.”

The opposition on Thursday claimed that the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government submitted a closure report in the phone-tapping case just to save the mastermind, Rashmi Shukla. This comes a day after a Pune court ordered the police to reopen probe against the IPS officer.

Rashmi Shukla is currently on central deputation, serving in Hyderabad as additional director general of the Central Reserve Police Force. (HT Archives)

Leader of opposition in the assembly Ajit Pawar said Shukla had been given orders to tap the phones of politicians without a strong ground and this amounted to violation of the Indian Telegraph Act and breach of the legislators’ privilege.

“The court said the case against Shukla could not be withdrawn. In an attempt to shield the officer, the state hurriedly submitted the closure report to a Pune court. Was the government worried that the mastermind would be exposed if the investigation was allowed to be completed? When Fadnavis was the CM, the phones of opposition leaders such as Nana Patole, Sanjay Raut, Sanjay Kakde, and Eknath Khadse were tapped,” the Nationalist Congress Party leader said.

Congress MLA Nana Patole said the closure report was submitted without an inquiry. “The phones were tapped to blackmail the opposition leaders. I am one of the victims of this illegal activity. The speaker should admit our adjournment notice and allow a debate on it.”

To this, assembly speaker Rahul Narvekar said the members were free to file their complaints before the breach of privilege committee.

On Wednesday, the metropolitan magistrate court in Pune set the closure report aside and asked the police to further investigate the phone-tapping case. The Pune police on October 7 submitted the closure report claiming that the FIR was found to have been based on wrong facts.

During the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi rule, three FIRs were registered against Shukla. The phones were allegedly tapped between 2016 and February 2021 when she was Pune police commissioner and commissioner of state intelligence department. She is currently on central deputation, serving in Hyderabad as additional director general of the Central Reserve Police Force.