Made a scapegoat to protect Maharashtra Chief Secretary Sitaram Kunte who sanctioned phone tapping: Rashmi Shukla to Bombay High Court

Senior IPS Officer Rashmi Shukla contended before the Bombay High Court on Friday that the Maharashtra government has made her a scapegoat in the illegal phone tapping case in order to shield State Chief Secretary Sitaram Kunte..Shukla was making submissions before a Bench of Justices SS Shinde and NJ Jamadar in her plea seeking quashing of the FIR registered by the Mumbai Police against unknown persons for leaking information about police postings in the State.Shukla had been summoned in connection with the same. .Senior Advocate Mahesh Jethmalani appearing for Shukla, argued that by pinning the blame on Shukla, the State government was protecting the present Chief Secretary of Maharashtra. "(Sitaram) Kunte, who sanctioned phone tapping, cannot absolve himself by putting blame on the senior 'upright officer'," Jethmalani argued. .Jethmalani contended that the surveillance by Shukla was carried out on instructions of and after obtaining requisite permission from Kunte under the Indian Telegraph Act to conduct the surveillance. "An 'arbitrary' case has been lodged by the State to suppress the crime and not to investigate and prosecute offenders who were indulging in corrupt practices in postings of the police officers and urged the case be transferred to CBI," Jethmalani emphasised. ."My client is (being) made a scapegoat for the alleged leakage of confidential documents. The whole reason behind filing this FIR is to prevent documents from going to the CBI," Jethmalani argued.He further added, "What were you (Kunte) doing when you repeatedly sanctioned all interceptions? Kunte cannot disown his interests and make my client a scapegoat. However hard he may try, he cannot do it". .Shukla headed the State intelligence Department (SID) when the alleged phone tapping took place and she is presently the Additional Director General of the Central Reserve Police Force's (CRPF) South Zone in Hyderabad.The case against Shukla was that she had allegedly written a letter to the then Director General of Police, Subodh Jaiswal about the alleged police transfers and details of intercepted calls. Kunte had alleged that in a report submitted by Shukla to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Shukla herself had leaked the confidential report. After this report, the complaint was filed and FIR was registered..Jethmalani will conclude his submissions on August 21, 2021 after which the State government will commence its submissions.The State government assured the High Court that the statement of no coercive steps, including Shukla's arrest will continue till the next hearing date..IPS Officer Rashmi Shukla won't be arrested if she co-operates with investigation: Mumbai Police to Bombay High Court.Jethmalani was assisted by Advocates Gunjan Mangla and Sameer Dangre.