CBI chief summoned by Mumbai Police over phone-tapping, data leak case

Mumbai: The cyber wing of the Mumbai Police has summoned Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director Subodh Kumar Jaiswal for a probe in connection with a case registered under the Official Secrets Act regarding an alleged leaking of a report revealing corruption in police transfers and postings and illegal phone tappings.

Jaiswal was the Director General of Police, Maharashtra when the said report was allegedly leaked. He has been asked to remain present before the investigators on October 14, said a senior IPS officer from Mumbai police.

Jaiswal did not respond to phone calls and messages.

Earlier the cyber police recorded the statement of senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Rashmi Shukla in connection with the same matter in May 2021. Shukla, who is presently on central deputation and posted as additional director general of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Hyderabad, had refuted the allegations made against her in the FIR.

The cyber police had on March 26 registered a case on the basis of a complaint lodged by the state intelligence department (SID) against unknown persons for allegedly leaking the report submitted by Shukla to Jaiswal, over the purported payments for transfers within the police department. Shukla was the commissioner, state intelligence department in August 2020 when the report was prepared by her.

Shukla’s report had named senior politicians, middlemen and police officers, who allegedly sought transfers and postings of their liking. The report referred to “monetary exchange” between officers and middlemen acting in close connection with politicians.

Home department officials said that the copy that was reportedly leaked was the SID’s office copy and did not bear Shukla’s signature on it.

Previously, state chief secretary Sitaram Kunte had submitted a report to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, detailing the circumstances in which Shukla had created the report. Kunte’s report stated that Shukla had intercepted the calls of six people in the name of “public safety” and thus “misguided the authorities”. It further stated that no transfers of police officers took place between June 27 and September 1, 2020, the period in which the calls were intercepted.

Kunte’s report raised doubt on whether Shukla had leaked the report. He contended that if that were the case then she would be liable for “strict action”. “The report leak had led to a breach of privacy and defamation of the officers whose names have been mentioned in it. The deals for the transfers mentioned in it and actual transfers done by the government differ. This proves that there was no question of any scam in the transfers,” Kunte’s report stated.

Earlier, Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis had alleged, “Shukla had sought proper permissions from the then additional chief secretary (home), and intercepted the phone calls.”