Mumbai Police on Tuesday, 26 April, filed a chargesheet running into 700 pages against IPS officer Rashmi Shukla in connection with the phone tapping case of Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Eknath Khadse.
The case against Shukla was registered at the Colaba Police Station under the Telegraph Act on the complaint of a senior police officer in March this year.
Statements of around 20 people, including Raut and Khadse, were included in the chargesheet. Meanwhile, Shukla has also been interrogated in the case.
Rashmi Shukla, who was the head of Maharashtra’s State Intelligence Department (SID) at the time, had allegedly tapped the phones of Raut and Khadse and had kept them under constant surveillance.
Notably, Khadse’s phone was tapped twice in 2019 when he was with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), while Raut’s phone was tapped after he joined the NCP in October 2020. Raut’s phone was also tapped in November 2019 during the formation of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.
Shukla is currently on central deputation and posted as Additional Director General of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Hyderabad.
A case against her has also been registered by the Pune Police.
Moreover, during the BJP government, the phones of Congress leaders Nana Patole and Bachu Kad were also allegedly tapped illegally.
What Had the Police Said Earlier?
Phones of Sanjay Raut and Khadse were tapped on the pretext of them being anti-social elements, the Mumbai Police had said on 20 April.
"During the investigation, it was found that some other names were mentioned as anti-social elements in State Intelligence Dept (SID) letter, which was sent to ACS Home for phone tapping that's why the ACS gave the permission for the same," the Mumbai Police had said.
"After that, the phone of NCP leader Eknath Khadse was tapped for 67 days while that of Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut was tapped for 60 days," the police added.
(With inputs from ANI.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)