IT Correspondent
Mumbai, Mar 23:
Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday said that he would meet Union Home Secretary and demand for a CBI probe into the alleged racket involving the transfer of IPS officers.
Addressing a press conference here, Fadnavis said, former Commissioner of Intelligence, Rashmi Shukla of Mumbai Police, had prepared a report after intercepting the call records of politicians and IPS officers and brought it to the notice of then Director General of Police, Subodh Jaiswal.
The former Chief Minister said, Jaiswal on his part wrote a letter to then Additional Chief Secretary (Home), Sitaram Kunte. Fadnavis claimed that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray was apprised about this alleged racket but he did not take any action and did not launch a CID probe. The senior BJP leader claimed that when he was the Chief Minister in 2017, that time too, the Commissioner of Intelligence, Rashmi Shukla had intercepted the calls and that time seven to eight people were arrested.
He said, “The chief minister did not take any action through the General Administration Department comes under him. The report has been with the government since August 2020 but to date no action on it. Seems like he shielded and protected this entire racket to save his government.”
Data over 6.3 GB to be shared with Union Home Ministry
In his statement, Fadnavis said that he has a copy of the report along with 6.3 GB of data that includes call recordings and documents. He added that the data would be shared with the Union Home Secretary for investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). “Since the union home secretary is the custodian and the chief minister, despite being in charge of General Administration Department did nothing to act on the report, I shall be submitting the report to the Centre”, he added.
Rashmi Shukla was falsely punished, alleged Fadnavis
Fadnavis said that the phone tapping was done with permission from the Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Sitaram Kunte. Shukla submitted the report to the Director-General of Police Subodh Jaiswal on August 25, 2020. Yet to action was taken against the guilty persons involved in phone tapping.
