Sharad Pawar takes a dig at Maharashtra DGP Rashmi Shukla: ‘Need to ensure phones are not tapped’

 

Sharad Pawar, the chief of the NCP, was alluding to a phone-tapping controversy in Maharashtra, to which Rashmi Shukla had been connected and which involved the purported targeting of the phones of the political rivals of the BJP.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar slammed newly appointed Maharashtra Director General of Police (DGP) Rashmi Shukla on Tuesday, saying that "now precaution needs to be taken to ensure phones are not tapped," referring to previous phone-tapping allegations against the IPS officer.

When asked about Shukla's nomination as DGP, Pawar, who was holding a press conference at the NCP headquarters, remarked, "We'll see how her remaining tenure goes." I believe it is about six months. The only precaution we will have to take now is to make sure our phones are not tapped.

Rashmi Shukla's name was previously tied to a phone-tapping controversy in Maharashtra, in which the phones of the BJP's political opponents were allegedly targeted. Nana Patole, the Maharashtra Congress Chief, had even raised the subject in the Legislative Assembly, calling for action against her.

Shukla was on central deputation to head the Sashastra Seema Bal after previously serving as the Central Reserve Police Force's additional director general. In Maharashtra, she was the Pune police commissioner and the head of the State Intelligence Department during the previous Devendra Fadnavis government's tenure.

Following her departure from the state, two FIRs were filed in Pune and Mumbai for allegedly tapping the phones of opposition figures such as Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut, NCP's Eknath Khadse, and state Congress chairman Nana Patole during the Fadnavis government's term.

A Mumbai police squad had also recorded her statement in Hyderabad in connection with the matter, after which the officer proceeded to court. The police subsequently filed another FIR, but Shukla was not identified as an offender.

Last year, the Bombay High Court invalidated two of the three FIRs filed against her. After the Eknath Shinde-Fadnavis administration took office, the third case was moved to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Later, this case was also concluded after the court accepted the CBI's closure report, allowing her return to the state.

There was much conjecture that officers who suffered because of their closeness to Fadnavis would be recalled back and "adequately compensated" during the Eknath Shinde-led mutiny in June 2022, which caused a rift in the Shiv Sena and the eventual fall of the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA administration.

There was speculation that Shukla, a 1988-batch IPS officer, would be brought back to the state and "rewarded with a good posting," with some anticipating that she would be appointed Mumbai police commissioner, the most sought-after position in the state.

The government was more interested in having her become the DGP even though she was apparently keen in the commissioner's position. Following extensive discussions, during which BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar congratulated her in October 2023 for being selected as the DGP, the Maharashtra government formally named her as the state's top law enforcement officer on Thursday.