Nagpur: A day after Pune police registered an offense against IPS officer Rashmi Shukla for allegedly tapping phones of politicians illicitly, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee chief Nana Patole has demanded that the role of opposition party leaders also be looked into.
TOI had reported on Sunday that the FIR was registered after a state-appointed committee report surmised that Shukla, during her tenure as commissioner of police in Pune, had illegally tapped phones of politicians.
Patole on Sunday tweeted: “It is mandatory to take permission of home secretary for tapping phones, as per Supreme Court’s directives. Hence, in the illegal tapping of our phones, even the then home minister was involved. In his capacity as the home minister then, Devendra Fadnavis‘s role must also be probed.”
TOI’s Sunday report mentions names of some politicians who were targeted in the alleged illegal phone tapping, and three of them are from Vidarbha. Along with Patole (MLA from Sakoli), Bachchu Kadu (MLA from Achalpur) and Ashish Deshmukh (former MLA from Katol) were on the phone tap list. TOI reached out to both Kadu and Deshmukh for comments, but no response had come till the filing of this report.
Patole, however, seemed on the offensive, as even late night on Saturday he had tweeted about the same issue. In that tweet, Patole shared a newspaper clipping about the FIR being registered against Shukla and wrote, “Whenever Modi is afraid of the public, he gets phones tapped through Fadnavis.”
A three-member committee appointed by the state had conducted an inquiry in the phone-tapping into. The committee, led by director general of police Sanjay Pandey, was formed after politicians raised the issue during last year’s assembly session. Based on the report submitted by the committee, the police in Pune registered the FIR.
The TOI report on Sunday also quotes state home minister Dilip Walse-Patil, who said that Shukla violated guidelines. “We have booked Rashmi Shukla, now on central deputation in Hyderabad, for blatant violation of the Indian Telegraph Act,” Walse-Patil said.
TOI had reported on Sunday that the FIR was registered after a state-appointed committee report surmised that Shukla, during her tenure as commissioner of police in Pune, had illegally tapped phones of politicians.
Patole on Sunday tweeted: “It is mandatory to take permission of home secretary for tapping phones, as per Supreme Court’s directives. Hence, in the illegal tapping of our phones, even the then home minister was involved. In his capacity as the home minister then, Devendra Fadnavis‘s role must also be probed.”
TOI’s Sunday report mentions names of some politicians who were targeted in the alleged illegal phone tapping, and three of them are from Vidarbha. Along with Patole (MLA from Sakoli), Bachchu Kadu (MLA from Achalpur) and Ashish Deshmukh (former MLA from Katol) were on the phone tap list. TOI reached out to both Kadu and Deshmukh for comments, but no response had come till the filing of this report.
Patole, however, seemed on the offensive, as even late night on Saturday he had tweeted about the same issue. In that tweet, Patole shared a newspaper clipping about the FIR being registered against Shukla and wrote, “Whenever Modi is afraid of the public, he gets phones tapped through Fadnavis.”
A three-member committee appointed by the state had conducted an inquiry in the phone-tapping into. The committee, led by director general of police Sanjay Pandey, was formed after politicians raised the issue during last year’s assembly session. Based on the report submitted by the committee, the police in Pune registered the FIR.
The TOI report on Sunday also quotes state home minister Dilip Walse-Patil, who said that Shukla violated guidelines. “We have booked Rashmi Shukla, now on central deputation in Hyderabad, for blatant violation of the Indian Telegraph Act,” Walse-Patil said.
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