Police support govt’s decision not to give prosecution sanction to Rashmi Shukla

Mumbai: The Mumbai police on Wednesday maintained before a city court that it would go with the state government’s stand to not prosecute senior IPS officer Rashmi Shukla in connection with the case registered with Colaba police for illegal phone tapping of Shiv Sena MP Sanja Raut and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Eknath Khadse

Mumbai: The Mumbai police on Wednesday maintained before a city court that it would go with the state government’s stand to not prosecute senior IPS officer Rashmi Shukla in connection with the case registered with Colaba police for illegal phone tapping of Shiv Sena MP Sanja Raut and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Eknath Khadse.

HT Image

Shukla, now a DG rank police official, had moved a plea seeking discharge from the case claiming that the chargesheet doesn’t contain the sanction order to allow her prosecution from the state government and it has been filed without obtaining it.

The Colaba police on Wednesday submitted a one-page reply on Shukla’s discharge plea. Police sources claimed that the police have only clarified that the state government has decided to not give sanctions to prosecute her in the case. It is further clarified that the police, being part of the state machinery, will abide by the stand taken by the state government.

A sanction from the appointing authority is a must when it comes to prosecuting government officials. In the case of Shukla it has been rejected. The court has now sought the independent say of the public prosecutor on the legal aspect of the case.

Shukla, a 1988-batch IPS officer, was the then Commissioner of the State Intelligence Department (SID) from October 11, 2018 to September 3, 2020, when she allegedly tapped the phones of Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Eknath Khadse.

Mumbai police had in April last year submitted a 700-page charge sheet against the senior IPS officer.

She had illegally secured permission for surveillance from the home department by changing the name of Raut to S Rahate claiming that he is an anti-social element, the charge sheet states.

Raut’s one phone number and two phone numbers of Khadse were allegedly tapped, the charge sheet said.

Shukla had allegedly changed the name of Khadse to Khadasne and mentioned the reason to tap his phone as ‘special reasons’, police sources said, adding that the revelation of these facts led the police to add sections of forgery in the case.