NCP's Nawab Malik refutes Fadnavis' corruption claims, alleges illegal phone tapping

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) spokesperson and state minister Nawab Malik on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis and termed as false the allegations made by former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

The NCP leader claimed that the transfer of police officers mentioned in a report by former intelligence commissioner Rashmi Shukla was false and that the latter had illegally tapped the phones of people.

Malik further said the Police Establishment Board committee set up for transfers of top-level IPS officers makes a proposal for transfer.

"The President of the Board is ACS, the ADG is the member, there is a director of anti-corruption and after their recommendation, the home department scrutinises it. Then, the class-1 officer notes the views of the Home Minister and then it is sent to the Chief Minister for approval," he added.

Nawab Malik also alleged that both Shukla and Jaiswal were working for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the erstwhile BJP-Shiv Sena government.

Earlier in the day, Devendra Fadnavis has sought time from Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla to meet him and hand him over call recordings and documents pertaining to the alleged transfer posting racket of IPS and non-IPS officers of Maharashtra Police.

"Commissioner of Intelligence sent a report of intercepted suspicious calls to be involved in transfer racket to DG Maharashtra in August 2020. It was later forwarded to the chief minister who expressed concern but took no action. I have data of 6.3 GB containing all the information."

"When the DG inquired about the report, he got to know that it was sent to the Home Minister (l Deshmukh). No action was taken against the people involved but the action was taken against COI Rashmi Shukla who prepared the report. Her promotion was delayed and transferred to a post that did not even exist when she was sent there," he stated.

Meanwhile, the Republican Party of India (RPI) delegation led by former Maharashtra minister Avinash Mahatekar met Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and requested him to recommend for President's rule in the state due to failure of law and order situation.

On the other side, Congress held a meeting at Balasaheb Thorat's residence in Mumbai. Prithviraj Chavan, Nitin Raut and other party leaders were present here.

( With inputs from ANI )