Mumbai: In the backdrop of Pune police filing a closure report in a case against IPS officer Rashmi Shukla, where she was accused of illegally tapping the phones of Congress leader Nana Patole, the officer is expected to get a clean chit in two other cases soon, paving the way for her return to Maharashtra in a plum posting.
Shukla is facing three cases in Mumbai and Pune for phone tapping and leakage of a report based on phone tapping. The 1988-batch IPS officer is currently on the central deputation serving as additional director general of the Central Reserve Police Force.
Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is also the home minister of the state, said on Saturday, that the state government has submitted its stand in the Bombay High Court in the pending case against Shukla. He also said that not only Shukla but there are many other police officers were ‘victimised’ by framing them in false cases during the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government. He added that the government was taking ‘corrective measures’ to give justice to them.
Shukla is facing cases related to tapping the phones of political leaders in Pune when she was city commissioner between March 2016, and July 2018 and as commissioner of the state intelligence department in 2020. The SID had registered a case with cyber police for leakage of the report and another case was reported in Colaba police station for alleged illegal tapping of the phones of political leaders. Soon after the Shinde–Fadnavis government was sworn in, the case pending with cyber police was transferred to the CBI. The Mumbai police too have reportedly submitted an affidavit in the court in the second case registered at Colaba police station. The CBI too may take a stand in the case pending before it.
Fadnavis said, “Not only Rashmi Shukla but there were many police officers who were targeted and victimised by submitting false, one-sided reports. The previous Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government used former director general of police and Mumbai police commissioner Sanjay Pandey by giving him ‘supari’ (contract) to falsely frame police officers. We will not allow any officer to be victimised and the corrective steps will be taken,” he said on Saturday.
According to officials from the home department, they have received complaints from police officers, including a few IPS officers, that Pandey pressurised them to register false cases motivated by political reasons. “They have said that they were threatened with dire consequences if they failed to follow the orders. Senior IPS officers who served in plum postings during the Fadnavis government were targeted during the MVA government,” said the officials.
Once cleared from the pending cases, Shukla could come back to Maharashtra to serve in her home cadre. “Though there are rumours that she may be appointed as police commissioner of Mumbai, it is not expected to happen before the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation polls expected to be held in early 2023. Till then she may be shouldered with some other responsibility. She has nearly three more years in service and is keen on returning to the state, “he added.
Shukla, in the third week of August, met DCM in Mumbai, followed by a brief meeting with chief minister Eknath Shinde in Delhi on September 22. Amid the controversy over the phone tapping, the officer opted for the central deputation in February 2021.
