Who is the mastermind behind Rashmi Shukla phone tapping case, asks Ajit Pawar

The Opposition staged a walk out from Maharashtra Assembly today as  Speaker Rahul Narvekar stalled their attempts to speak on the phone tapping case and the  alleged role of Rashmi Shukla presently DGP, CRPF in it. 

On the fourth day of the winter session of the Assembly being held in its winter capital of Nagpur, MPCC Chief Nana Patole raised the question in the House regarding the senior IPS officer Rashmi Shukla's involvement in the phone tapping case . He stressed that a closure report against her was sent without an  inquiry following the change of the government and a thorough investigation was nevessary. 

Later Ajit Pawar (NCP ) Opposition Leader raised it to  Speaker Narvekar and pointed out  that on Wednesday the magistrate court had ordered the Pune Police to further  investigate the case filed against Rashmi Shuka. in the local police station of Pune city in connection with the phone tapping case. This requires a thorough investigation as the allegations are against a senior officer, he said.

Pawar  said, “ It is a must to investigate the brain behind phone tapping of  political leaders. The charges levelled against Shukla are serious, allegations as she had not only tapped phones of the Opposition party leaders but the BJP also. Therefore, we raised the issue in the Assembly today. However the Speaker did not let me speak on it . Although the court has rejected the closure report submitted by the police, it  requires a detailed investigation as the allegations are against a  senior IPS officer. Hence, we demanded a discussion under Rule 57 of the house to discuss this issue. But our leaders were not allowed to speak and, hence, we have staged a walkout,” Ajit told the National Herald.

Apparently, Shukla had allegedly ordered illegal phone tapping of political leaders between March 2016 and July 2018. The Shinde-Fadnavis government had tried to close the investigation but the closure report filed by the Pune police has been rejected by the court.

In March, the Colaba police had registered a case against Shukla for tapping the phones of these leaders in 2019. While in the post of the Commissioner of the State Intelligence Department, Dr. Rashmi Shukla is accused of illegal phone tapping. A case has been registered against her under the Telegraph Act. It was during the Mahavikas Aghadi government that the inquiry into the phone tapping case was started but with a change of government, there seems to be an attempt at a cover-up, opposition leaders alleged.