Alleging an attempt by the Maha Vikas Aghadi government to frame him in the case, Fadnavis said it would only make his resolve to unearth scams under the government stronger. (File) Taking objection to the questions posed to him by the Mumbai police in the phone-tapping case, Maharashtra Opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis told the Assembly on Monday that he was not afraid either of answering them or facing imprisonment.
“The first questionnaire was drafted with a view to seeking information from a witness. In the second questionnaire, the approach was one of grilling an accused,” Fadnavis said about Sunday’s questions. He claimed he knew the “whole plot behind it” as well as who was responsible for the “change in the approach”.
However, Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil denied the former chief minister was treated like an accused. “Fadnavis was questioned by police to elicit information. He was not treated as an accused. He was not served any summons.”
“I received a questionnaire from the Mumbai police. I gave them my consent in writing and informed them I will reply to those questions. I was served a notice after this,” Fadnavis said.
“I had a transcript related to phone tapping. Instead of making it public, I submitted it to the Union home secretary as it was highly confidential and involved senior officials,” He said, adding that the police should question jailed minister Nawab Malik because it was the NCP leader who “leaked the tapped conversations to the media”.
Alleging an attempt by the Maha Vikas Aghadi government to frame him in the case, Fadnavis said it would only make his resolve to unearth scams under the government stronger.
To assert that he comes from a family that is “not scared of fighting for people’s rights”, the BJP leader said, “My late father (Gangadharrao Fadnavis) was locked up in jail for two years by former prime minister Indira Gandhi for voicing his protest against the Emergency… I will continue to raise my voice against corruption and expose scams in the MVA rule.”
IPS officer Rashmi Shukla is facing charges of illegally tapping the phones of political leaders and senior bureaucrats as the chief of the state intelligence department. A year ago, Fadnavis cited a letter purportedly written by Shukla to the then director general of police about corruption and the violation of rules in police transfer.
The phone tapping case was lodged under the Official Secrets Act at the Bandra Kurla Complex police station by the intelligence department. In its internal report, former chief secretary Sitaram Kunte alleged Shukla had leaked a confidential report.
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