BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Friday rubbished the fact-finding report submitted to the Maharashtra government by the state chief secretary Sitaram Kunte over the phone-tapping allegations. Fadnavis said that the report submitted by Kunte was a sham and replete with fallacies.
And who leaked out the detailed report?
— Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) March 26, 2021
Minister Nawab Malik himself did and even the leaked pages clearly show that 12 transfers actually happened as we see in the transcripts!#PoliceTransferRacket pic.twitter.com/fR26lHPhvh
“The Indian Telegraph Act mentioned in the report is cited to the public in a manner convenient to the government. The report in itself is full of fallacies. Although there are sufficient provisions to tap the phone calls, the government is not ready to accept it,” Fadnavis said.
Fadnavis said The Act empowers the official to intercept calls to avoid any possible offense that could happen, adding that the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of the Maharashtra police has all the rights to carry out phone-tapping.
The BJP leader also asked why the state government did not follow DGP Subodh Jaiswal’s recommendation of having the CID probe the matter.
“The then DGP Subodh Jaiswal had recommended a CID probe (into the alleged transfer scam) based on the conversations among police officials and other persons involved in it. Then why no action was taken on his recommendations?” he asked.
State Minister Nawab Malik responsible for leaking the detailed report about the transfer racket: Devendra Fadnavis
The former chief minister of Maharashtra also alleged that it was Maha Vikas Aghadi minister Nawab Malik who had leaked the detailed report by IPS officer Rashmi Shukla about the alleged transfer racket in the state police force.
Revealing that Nawab Malik had released the detailed report on the alleged transfer racket, Fadnavis said, “I had only shared a two-page cover letter (related to Rashmi Shukla’s letter), whereas it was state minister Nawab Malik who leaked some of its pages. I was even contacted by some journalists after they received the report from Nawab Malik.”
If any action is to be taken in this case, it should be against Mr Malik, he added.
Fadnavis further mentioned that he has it on good authority that the report was prepared by Nawab Malik or Jitendra Awhad and signed by chief secretary Sitaram Kunte. The BJP leader said if any legal action is taken against him, he will produce proof of the same in the court of law.
Fadnavis also claimed that of all the names mentioned by Nawab Malik from the list, 12 officials had received the postings as per their request.
Maharashtra chief secretary comes to state government’s rescue, recommends strict action against IPS officer Rashmi Shukla
After Fadnavis made an explosive revelation that Uddhav Thackeray had ignored a report on transfer posting racket in the state police, the Chief Secretary of Maharashtra came to the state government’s rescue, submitting in a report that there had been no wrongdoing observed in the postings of the police officials in the state. Kunte alleged that IPS officer Rashmi Shukla had illegally tapped the phones of politicians and recommended strict action against her.
In his report that was released on Thursday, Chief Secretary Sitaram Kunte claimed that the former Additional Director General of Police (Intelligence) Rashmi Shukla may have leaked her confidential letter on the alleged corruption in transfers in the police department to Leader of the Opposition Devendra Fadnavis (BJP).
Furthermore, the report which was submitted to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray stated that there was no wrongdoing in the police transfers and all transfers of police officers made between September 2-October 28, 2020. It added that the transfers were based on the recommendations of the Police Establishment Board.
