Court allows Maha govt plea seeking documents from Centre in phone tapping case
Mumbai Dec 28 PTI A court here on Tuesday allowed the Maharashtra governments application seeking documents from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs MHA in connection with an alleged phone tapping caseAdditional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate S B Bhajipale granted the plea The detailed order was not available yetThe BKC cyber police station here in March 2021 registered a case on a complaint by the State Intelligence Department SID against unidentified persons for allegedly tapping phones illegally and leaking confidential documents Senior IPS officer Rashmi Shukla had headed the SID during the relevant period But the FIR did not name herThe state government wrote to the MHA seeking some documents regarding the case but the latter declined stating that the demand was vague and untenable The Maharashtra government then moved the magistrates court seeking a direction to the MHA to hand over the documentsIn the court the Union government sought dismissal of the plea saying the state authorities had failed to specify which documents they wanted and from whomEarlier BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis had cited a letter purportedly written by Shukla to then Director General of Police about alleged corruption in police transfersThe letter had details of intercepted calls leading to an uproar with leaders of the ruling coalition alleging that Shukla tapped phones of political leaders and officials without authorization Shukla who is now with the Central Reserve Police Force CRPF claimed before the Bombay High Court in a related petition that the government had given permission for the interception of certain phone numbers to verify complaints of corruption in police transfers PTI AVI KRK KRK
Mumbai Dec 28 PTI A court here on Tuesday allowed the Maharashtra governments application seeking documents from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs MHA in connection with an alleged phone tapping caseAdditional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate S B Bhajipale granted the plea The detailed order was not available yetThe BKC cyber police station here in March 2021 registered a case on a complaint by the State Intelligence Department SID against unidentified persons for allegedly tapping phones illegally and leaking confidential documents Senior IPS officer Rashmi Shukla had headed the SID during the relevant period But the FIR did not name herThe state government wrote to the MHA seeking some documents regarding the case but the latter declined stating that the demand was vague and untenable The Maharashtra government then moved the magistrates court seeking a direction to the MHA to hand over the documentsIn the court the Union government sought dismissal of the plea saying the state authorities had failed to specify which documents they wanted and from whomEarlier BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis had cited a letter purportedly written by Shukla to then Director General of Police about alleged corruption in police transfersThe letter had details of intercepted calls leading to an uproar with leaders of the ruling coalition alleging that Shukla tapped phones of political leaders and officials without authorization Shukla who is now with the Central Reserve Police Force CRPF claimed before the Bombay High Court in a related petition that the government had given permission for the interception of certain phone numbers to verify complaints of corruption in police transfers PTI AVI KRK KRK
