Opposition stages walkout from Maharashtra Assembly over IPS officer phone tapping case
The Hindu
A local court in Pune has directed the police to investigate further on Wednesday
Claiming that they were not being allowed to discuss the alleged phone tapping case registered against senior IPS officer Rashmi Shukla, members of the Opposition parties on Thursday walked out of the Maharashtra Assembly.
Congress legislator and Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole raised the issue saying he was one of the leaders whose phone was allegedly tapped between 2016 and 2017 when Devendra Fadnavis was the Chief Minister.
After the Shinde-Fadnavis government came into power, the Pune police filed a closure report in the case citing lack of evidence. However, a local court has directed the police to investigate further on Wednesday.
In February 2022, the Bundgarden police station in Pune registered a case against Ms. Shukla under Section 26 (unlawful interception of messages) of the Indian Telegraph Act when the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government was in power. The Colaba police in Mumbai also registered a case against the IPS officer, who is currently on central deputation as Additional Director-General of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Hyderabad.
During the proceedings, Mr. Patole asked what was the need to file a closure report, and targeted Mr. Fadnavis, who also holds charge of the Home department. He sought a discussion over the matter and demanded the Deputy Chief Minister’s resignation.
Speaker Rahul Narvekar said the Congress member had given a notice for the discussion after the deadline and he could raise the issue with the Privilege Committee of the House. Even, the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Ajit Pawar said the probe into Ms. Shukla’s case had been stopped when the phones of several leaders including those from the Opposition were tapped, which was in violation of the Indian Telegraph Act.
When the Opposition was not allowed to discuss the case, as the Question Hour was in progress, they walked out of the Assembly.
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