During a press conference on March 23, former Chief Minister of Maharashtra and leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis alleged that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray chose not to act on a report exposing a racket related to the transfer of police officials which was bought to his notice. He further said that CM Thackeray decided to keep mum just to save his government.
LoP in Maharashtra Assembly and BJP leader, Devendra Fadnavis has sought time from Union Home Secretary to meet him and hand him over 6.3 GB of data of call recordings & some documents pertaining to alleged transfer posting racket of IPS and non-IPS officers of Maharashtra Police pic.twitter.com/hRhDaCP1iB
— ANI (@ANI) March 23, 2021
He said, “The chief minister did not take any action through the General Administration Department comes under him. The report has been with the government since August 2020 but to date no action on it. Seems like he shielded and protected this entire racket to save his government.”
Data over 6.3 GB to be shared with Union Home Ministry
In his statement, Fadnavis said that he has a copy of the report along with 6.3 GB of data that includes call recordings and documents. He added that the data would be shared with the Union Home Secretary for investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
When DG inquired about the report, he got to know that it was sent to Home Minister. I am going to Delhi today to meet Union Home Secretary & demand CBI to investigate the matter: Devendra Fadnavis, LoP in Maharashtra Assembly
— ANI (@ANI) March 23, 2021
He said, “Since the union home secretary is the custodian and the chief minister, despite being in charge of General Administration Department did nothing to act on the report, I shall be submitting the report to the Centre.”
Rashmi Shukla was falsely punished, alleged Fadnavis
Fadnavis alleged that the call data he has acquired includes the names of senior IPS officers, non-IPS officers, junior officers, and politicians. He further accused the Maharashtra government of wrongfully “punishing” Commissioner of Intelligence Rashmi Shukla, who is a senior officer and worked under three governments.
Fadnavis said, “Rashmi Shukla, despite being the senior-most police officer, was overlooked for a promotion. She was promoted as Director-General of Civil Defence, a non-existent post not even sanctioned by the Cabinet. On the other hand, those whose names surface in the call intercepts have got the posts they wanted.”
In a tweet, he said, “This MVA Govt did not take any action on these severe & sensitive allegations. Instead transferred the intelligence Commissioner.”
But this MVA Govt did not take any action on these severe & sensitive allegations.
— @OfficeOfDevendra (@Devendra_Office) March 23, 2021
Instead transferred the intelligence Commissioner.
All officials mentioned in these transcripts got same postings.
I am going to Delhi to meet Union Home Secretary for this today: @Dev_Fadnavis
Permission for phone tapping was granted by Additional Chief Secretary Kunte
Fadnavis said that the phone tapping was done with permission from the Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Sitaram Kunte. Shukla submitted the report to the Director-General of Police Subodh Jaiswal on August 25, 2020.
Commissioner of Intelligence sent a report of intercepted calls suspicious to be involved in transfer racket to DG Maharashtra in Aug ’20. It was forwarded to CM later & he expressed concern but no action was taken. I have data of 6.3 GB containing all info: Devendra Fadnavis pic.twitter.com/z0QKrknyba
— ANI (@ANI) March 23, 2021
He further submitted the report to ACS (Home) on August 26, 2020.
Fadnavis said the DG had recommended notifying the chief minister about the named identified in the report.
The DG had also asked to ensure the secrecy of the report to avoid disrepute to the government.
