Rashmi Shukla becomes Maharashtra’s first woman Director General of Police

Rashmi Shukla became the first woman police officer to hold the top police post in the State.

The Maharashtra government on Thursday appointed 1988 batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Rashmi Shukla as the Director General of Police. Ms. Shukla became the first woman police officer to hold the top police post in the State.

She takes over from another 1988 IPS batch officer Rajnish Seth, who retired last week to take charge as chairman of the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC). Mumbai police commissioner Vivek Phansalkar has been holding additional charge as Maharashtra DGP Maharashtra since Mr. Seth retired on December 31.

Ms. Shukla was on Central deputation heading the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) – the border guarding force, before her latest appointment as Maharashtra DGP. Prior to this, she was appointed as Additional Director-General of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in February 2021.

However, it was during her tenure as Commissioner of the State Intelligence Department (SID) during the Devendra Fadnavis-led Bharatiya Janata Party government that she courted controversy after being accused of secretly tapping phones of leaders of the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition, including Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Sanjay Raut, Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Eknath Khadse.

After the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA came to power in late 2019, three FIRs were lodged alleging that calls of MVA leaders were being intercepted illegally and that data from the SID headed by Ms. Shukla was allegedly being leaked to Mr. Fadnavis, who was the then Leader of Opposition. Ms. Shukla was named accused in two of the three cases.

In March 2021, current Deputy CM and Home Minister Mr. Fadnavis, then the Opposition Leader, had claimed in a press conference that he had proof of massive lobbying for plum postings being done senior police officials with MVA leaders.

Mr. Fadnavis had said he had a large data of call records and the names of those involved and that he was handing it to the Union Home Secretary for further action.