Senior IPS officer Rashmi Shukla gets clean chit in illegal phone tapping case

The Pune Police have filed a closure report in the criminal case related to phone tapping lodged against senior IPS officer and former Pune Police Commissioner Rashmi Shukla on Wednesday. Pune Police Commissioner Amitabh Gupta said . “The closure report  was filed two days ago", he said. The city police had filed a C-summary report before the court and once the court accepts the report, the case is deemed to be closed. Shukla, the 1998 batch IPS officer is at present on central deputation as additional director general of CRPF in Hyderabad.

The case was lodged against IPS Shukla at Bund Garden Police Station under section 26 of the Indian Telegraph Act at Bund Garden Police Station where the FIR stated that she had illegally tapped the phone of State Congress Chief Nana Patole during the reign of previous BJP government. Shukla getting clean chit in the case became clear after she met Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at his residence last month.

The FIR lodged against her on February 25 at Bund Garden Police Station, Pune stated that the mobile phones of Patole, MLA Bacchu Kadu and former BJP MP Sanjay Kakade and Ashish Deshmukh were tapped for a period of two months. Patole in his address in the state assembly had also alleged that his phone was tapped illegally which was an effort towards destroying political careers.

The three-member committee headed by director general of police Sanjay Pandey was formed to conduct an inquiry of alleged phone tapping incidents between 2015 to 2019. Other members of the committee included the state intelligence department (SID) commissioner and additional commissioner of the Special Branch (SB). The former DGP was later arrested by the Enforcement Directorate.

 The then Maharashtra State Chief Secretary Sitaram Kunte in his report to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had stated that Shukla had leaked the phone tapping details related to corruption in  transfer of police officials and misused the machinery for illegal phone tapping. The CM had asked for the report after the then Leader of Opposition in the assembly Devendra Fadanvis had alleged that the state government had suppressed details related to Shukla’s report on corruption in transfer of police officials.

On 26 March 2021,  the Mumbai Police lodged the First information Report  ( FIR ) at the Cyber Crime Police Station, Mumbai stating that on 23 March 2021, Devendra  Fadnavis, the Leader of the Opposition, during an interview on a television news channel showed copy of the secret confidential report addressed by  Rashmi Shukla, the Commissioner of  State Intelligence Department (SID) to the Director General of Police. 

 Fadnavis also showed a pen drive containing sensitive confidential material concerning the police force in Maharashtra obtained by the State Intelligence Department through interception. The FIR was registered with Cyber Cell, BKC, Bandra (East) against unknown persons on the allegation that confidential material received through legal interception was illegally obtained and supplied to an unauthorised person, thereby committing offences under the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, Information Technology Act, 2000 and, the Official Secrets Act, 1923. Apprehending arrest after  being summoned by BKC Cyber Police Station, Shukla had approached the high court seeking quashing of the FIR.