Maha: Furious cabinet ministers want CM to act against IPS officer Rashmi Shukla accused of tapping phones

Several cabinet ministers expressed anger while debating the issue in the weekly meeting with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. File pic

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is under pressure to initiate action against former intelligence commissioner Rashmi Shukla, who has been accused of illegally tapping phones.

The tapping transcript is part of a document opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis submitted to the Union Home Ministry demanding a CBI probe. Fadnavis said the report deals with a racket that helped police officers get choice posting in exchange of bribes.

Sources said a criminal case would be filed against an unidentified person for leaking the report in a couple of days. "The legal action against the officers concerned will also happen very soon," said a Congress leader.

Several cabinet ministers expressed anger over the ‘illegal' phone tapping while debating the issue in the weekly meeting. They wanted Shukla taken to task under the service rules, and also suggested that former police chief Param Bir Singh also be punished under the law for making 'wild' allegations against the home minister.

Questions about permission
Questions were raised over the permission that Shukla was granted to tap phones. Chief Secretary Sitaram Kunte, who was additional chief secretary (home), has been named as an officer who had granted tapping permission as per rules.

Ministers who attended the meeting said the permission was given to tap certain phones, but Shukla's team misused it illegally tapping the numbers which were not listed.

Housing minister Jitendra Awhad said that Shukla was making a fool of the government. "Making a fool of govt #RashmiShukla she took permission to tap ‘A' and tapped the phone of ‘B'. It is quite scary, will anybody take a note of it. It was a well planned strategy so that her report could be used to malign #MVA," he tweeted after the cabinet meeting.

He further said that there were reasons to grant permission for phone tapping by the state government. "Who fit in that category? The information should come in public domain for Maharashtra to know what exactly happened," he said. Awhad said the phones of several MVA ministers could have been tapped by Shukla.

File case against me: Fadnavis
Fadnavis said that the government should file a case against him because he has managed to get hold of the report and data. "I don't fear them. The government is scared because of the exposé," he said.