The Maharashtra Government has told the Bombay High Court that senior IPS officer Rashmi Shukla has not been named as an accused in the case of alleged illegal phone tapping and leaking of confidential documents related to police transfers and postings, and hence she cannot seek quashing of the FIR.
In an affidavit filed on Saturday, the Government said the investigation only pertains to how sensitive and confidential information was unauthorisedly leaked to third parties from the State Intelligence Department (SID) and has got nothing to do with the contents of the said documents.
It further claimed that the offences are not in any way connected to the offences being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against former State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.
The affidavit was submitted in response to a petition filed by Shukla seeking quashing of the FIR, alleging that she was being made a scapegoat and targeted by the Maharashtra Government for submitting a report on alleged corruption in police transfers and postings.
The affidavit filed by Rashmi Karandikar, Deputy Commissioner of Police of the city police's crime branch, said the FIR registered by the police is against "unknown persons" and hence the petitioner has no locus (standi) to file the plea seeking to quash the case.