Phone tapping case: Eknath Khadse appears before Mumbai police to record statement as witness

NCP leader Eknath Khadse on Thursday appeared before the Colaba police here to record his statement as a witness in the case registered against senior IPS officer Rashmi Shukla for alleged illegal tapping of politicians’ phones, an official said. Khadse reached the Colaba police station in south Mumbai around 11 am, where his statement is being recorded by a police inspector-rank officer, he said. The FIR against Shukla was registered at the Colaba police station in March under the Indian Telegraph Act and relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, following a complaint by senior police officer, who accused her of having put the phone numbers of Khadse, a former BJP leader, and Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut under surveillance. The alleged illegal phone tapping had taken place when Shukla headed the State Intelligence Department (SID), police have said.

As per the complaint, Khadse’s phone was allegedly tapped twice in 2019, when he was with the BJP. He joined the NCP in October 2020. “Apart from Khadse, the phone of Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut was also tapped during the formation of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government (in November 2019),” the police official said. Based on the complaint lodged by Additional Commissioner of Police (Special Branch), a case was registered against Shukla, he said. “As investigation into the case is on, the Colaba police had called Khadse to record his statement as a witness in the case. Accordingly, the NCP leader visited the police station, where his statement is being recorded,” he said. Shukla is presently on central deputation and posted as additional director general of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Hyderabad. The Pune police have also registered an FIR against Shukla in connection with alleged illegal tapping of the phones of Congress leader Nana Patole when a BJP-led government was in power in the state. Patole is now state Congress chief.