The phone tapping case refers to the March 2021 incident when Fadnavis alleged that postings of top IPS officers in Maharashtra were being given to government officials in exchange for bribes. Fadnavis had then claimed that he would send the matter to the Union Home Secretary for investigation.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi government had then claimed that the phones were illegally tapped by IPS officer Rashmi Shukla, who was the state’s intelligence chief at the time. Fadnavis was questioned on Sunday as to how he got hold of documents, including tapes of alleged conversations between police officers and middlemen involved in the transfers.
When Fadnavis was being questioned by Mumbai Police officials, senior BJP leaders gathered outside his residence (where the interrogation took place) in support of Fadnavis. BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar said, “The person who exposed the scams is being questioned while those involved in corruption are being saved.”
Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil, however, justified the interrogation, saying the police officers were only taking Fadnavis’ statement.
Walse Patil explained, “They are not treating him as an accused, they are taking his statement as a witness in the case. Police officers just want to know how the data (transcript and recorded conversation) was leaked. Done.”
He denied that the government was being vindictive as the BJP was claiming, “Police have waited for a year to record his statement. Police just want to find out facts about the case.”
After interrogation, Fadnavis claimed that the MVA government was trying to silence him. “What Walse Patil is claiming is untrue. The police inquiry was on the basis whether I had committed an offense of Official Secrets Act or not. The interrogation was not such that a witness would be asked. Ever since I brought out Fadnavis said that The scams in the government, later attempts are being made to target me in such ways.
The BJP leader said he told police officials that he was a whistleblower under the Whistleblower Protection Act and had not disclosed any ‘sensitive’ details related to the phone tapping case.
While most of the MVA ministers justified Fadnavis’s police interrogation. Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said: “Every political party in the country should behave responsibly and there was never such a situation in the state. Using agencies to send notices (against rivals). I have told the Prime Minister that everyone should One should work for the development of his state, which is why he has been elected.”
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