IPS Officer Rashmi Shukla Moves Bombay High Court Against FIR For Alleged Phone Tapping

Senior Maharashtra IPS officer Rashmi Shukla has approached the Bombay High Court in a criminal writ petition seeking protection against any coercive action in Mumbai Police's FIR connected to the leaking of sensitive documents related to police postings. Shukla, currently posted in Hyderabad as ADG CRPF, sought an urgent hearing of her plea. She is one of the senior-most IPS officers of 1988 Cadre in police Service for more than 30 years, her plea states. She has accused the State of arm-twisting her by bogus and frivolous case. "The petitioner has exposed the nexus between Ministers and Politicians and other gross corruption involved in assigning postings to police officers. This reveals the courage and integrity of the petitioner in performing her official duties and making her best endeavours to expose and eliminate corruption by bringing the guilty to books. Instead of applauding her for her work, the police has foisted a false case on her, Shukla states. Mumbai's cyber police registered an FIR against unknown persons under the Official Secrets Act after former CM BJP's Devendra Fadnavis leaked call intercepts of IPS officers and other sensitive details. The calls were recorded when Shukla headed the State Intelligence Department (SID). Fadnavis cited a letter apparently written by Shukla to the then Director General of Police about alleged corruption in police transfers. Maharashtra's Chief Secretary Sitaram Kunte had alleged in a report submitted to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray that it appears Shukla herself had leaked the confidential information (to Fadnavis). Fadnavis made the details public in March, to accuse Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh of indulging in corrupt malpractices while effecting police transfers. The Cyber police summoned Shulka to appear on April 26 and 28 and subsequently on May 3, when she filed the present petition. In his letter dated May 20, 2021, addressed to the CM, former Mumbai CP Parambir Singh has also cited Shukla's interceptions. Singh wrote the letter three days after being shunted out of the Mumbai police commissionerate to Home Guards. The plea is likely to be listed before a division bench of justices SS Shinde and Manish Pitale.

IPS Officer Rashmi Shukla Moves Bombay High Court Against FIR For Alleged Phone Tapping

Sharmeen Hakim

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