Were instructed to focus on Raut’s talks with ‘saheb’: SID official

Mumbai: A policeman posted with Maharashtra’s State Intelligence Department (SID), who monitored the calls of Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut, was “instructed” to focus on the Rajya Sabha parliamentarian’s phone conversations with “Saheb” and submit reports to his seniors, his statement submitted to the Mumbai police has contended.

The statement did not clarify who he meant by “Saheb”. Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray is referred to as “Saheb” among Sena workers, as is Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar by his cadre.

The Mumbai police, which is probing an alleged illegal phone-tapping exercise overseen by senior Indian Police Services (IPS) officer Rashmi Shukla in 2019, who headed the SID at the time, submitted a 700-page charge sheet to the 8th metropolitan magistrate court on April 26. The police officer’s statement forms part of the charge sheet.

“At the fag-end of the year 2019, the mobile phone of Sanjay Raut was kept under surveillance. I have myself heard his calls. Those were mostly about meeting political leaders and organising meetings, visiting places like Sahyadri (the state guest house), Silver Oak (the Malabar Hill residence of NCP’s Pawar) and Matoshree (the private residence of CM Thackeray),” the policeman’s statement read.

It added that whatever information gleaned from the targeted phones seemed important was to be conveyed to senior police personnel. “We were instructed to pay attention to the calls, especially those in which he (Raut) spoke about or with ‘Saheb,’” the policeman’s statement read.

The phone-tapping exercise allegedly occurred in late 2019, when the Sena was in talks with the NCP and Congress leadership to form the Maharashtra government following the state assembly elections, soon after it had parted ways with long-time ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Responding to the development, Maharashtra BJP vice president Madhav Bhandari said, “The case is being tried in the court and let court decide on it. However, can MVA leaders surely say that the phone tapping does not happen now or it was not the practice before 2014? When our leaders exposed IPL (Indian Premier League) scam a decade ago, their phones were under surveillance. Similarly, phones of BJP leaders and journalists were under surveillance in 2011-12 when the Adarsh scam was being investigated.”

Raut did not respond to phone calls or text messages seeking a comment on the policeman’s statement.

Shukla, a 1988-batch IPS officer, is currently on central deputation and is posted as the additional director general of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) (South Zone) in Hyderabad, remained unreachable for comment.

Last week, Raut had claimed that his phone as well as that of six-time legislator Eknath Khadse, who had left the BJP in October 2020 and had subsequently joined the NCP, was tapped in 2019 for 60 and 67 days, respectively, under the pretext that they were “anti-social elements”.

The charge sheet filed in the magistrate court says that there are substantial reasons to believe that the phone tapping was possibly done on instructions of a political leader or to benefit a political party. It further states that Shukla had “illegally” secured permission for surveillance from the home department by changing the name of Raut to “S Rahate”, and that of Khadse to “Khadasne”.

On March 2, additional commissioner of Police (Special Branch) Rajiv Jain filed a First Information Report (FIR) against Shukla at Mumbai’s Colaba police station, stating that she had tapped the phones of Raut and Khadse.

Asked about the reason to place Raut’s phone under surveillance, Shukla had told police during interrogation, “Intelligence sources can never be disclosed in order to maintain the safety of the source, disclosure not only harms the source, but puts the entire intelligence collection mechanism in danger.” She maintained the tapping was not done for any political purpose during her tenure.