Mumbai police record Fadnavis' statement for 2 hours in phone tapping case

A team of the BKC cyber police in Mumbai recorded senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis's statement for almost for two hours on Sunday at his residence in connection with a case of alleged illegal tapping of phones, an official said.

IPS officer Rashmi Shukla is accused of tapping phones of political leaders and senior officials illegally when she was chief of the SID. Former Maharashtra chief minister Fadnavis had cited a letter purportedly written by her to the then Maharashtra Director General of Police about alleged corruption in transfers in the police department.

The letter also had details of intercepted phone calls, leading to an uproar with leaders of the Shiv Sena-led ruling coalition alleging that Shukla tapped phones without permission.

Following a complaint lodged by the State Intelligence Department (SID), a case was registered under the Official Secrets Act at the BKC cyber police station in Mumbai last year against unidentified persons for allegedly illegally tapping phones and leaking confidential documents.

Before the FIR was registered, the then Maharashtra chief secretary Sitaram Kunte had alleged in his inquiry report that Shukla had leaked the confidential report.

On Sunday, a team comprising Deputy Commissioner of Police Hemraj Singh Rajput, Assistant Commissioner of Police Nitin Jadhav and two inspectors, reached Fadnavis's bungalow 'Sagar' around noon. They recorded the BJP leader's statement for about two hours and then left his residence, an official said.

Heavy security was deployed outside Fadnavis's home, where a number of BJP leaders gathered, including MLA Nitesh Rane, MLCs Prakash Lad and Pravin Darekar, and party leader Kripashankar Singh.

The police had issued a notice to Fadnavis in connection with the case and BJP workers on Sunday staged protests and burnt copies of the notice in parts of the state, including Pune, Pandharpur (in Solapur district), Nagpur, Chandrapur and Sangli.

BJP MLA Ashish Shelar said, Let them record it (the statement). The truth never hides and it can never be defeated."

However, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut in a Twitter post asked, Why some people and political parties think of themselves as being above the law?"

Maharashtra minister Aaditya Thackeray claimed the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government does not use its agencies against the opponents as campaign machineries like the Centre does.

We just take forward the legal process. I don't want to comment more about it, the Sena leader said, when asked about instances of complaints being filed against each other by the ruling and opposition parties in Maharashtra.

He also claimed the BJP was frustrated, and hence staging protests on various issues.

But, Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil said the allegations of the Centre misusing probe agencies to target political opponents need to be challenged in court, which has been supportive such action of these agencies so far.

Leaders like Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik (both of the NCP) continue to be in jail since they are unable to get bail from courts, as the action taken by the probe agencies is based on evidence, he said.

Fadnavis last Tuesday submitted a pen drive containing video recordings to state Assembly's Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal, saying the footage showed how conspiracies were hatched by police and MVA members to frame BJP leaders, including himself and Girish Mahajan, in false cases.

(With inputs from PTI)