THE CENTRAL Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has submitted a closure report in a case filed by the Mumbai Police during the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government’s term to investigate the alleged data leak of intercepted calls, in which the statement of Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was recorded in 2022.
The State Intelligence Department (SID), which was the complainant in the FIR, has also given its no-objection to close the investigation. The magistrate court, where the report was submitted, is likely to decide on the CBI’s plea next month.
The FIR registered by the cyber police station on March 26, 2022, on behalf of the then Assistant Police Commissioner of SID, referred to a press conference by then Leader of Opposition Fadnavis on March 23, 2022, where he spoke about calls between senior police officers and a private person. He claimed that there was heavy lobbying for plum postings by police officers, in exchange for money with politicians in the MVA government.
The FIR said that Fadnavis had also shown a pendrive stating that it had over 6 GB of data related to the calls. The FIR said that a copy of a confidential communication between the then SID commissioner Rashmi Shukla and the DGP was also referred to in the press conference.
The FIR said that the contents referred to by Fadnavis was confidential information collected by the officials of the SID in August 2020. It also said that unknown persons illegally accessed communication between Shukla and the DGP, based on intelligence
collected by the SID and provided it to Fadnavis. The FIR was registered under sections, including the Officials Secret Act, Indian Telegraph Act and Information Technology Act, against unknown persons. During the probe, Mumbai police recorded the statement of Fadnavis.
Officials said that Fadnavis had handed over the evidence to the Home Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, after which police approached a magistrate’s court seeking directions to the secretary to hand it over to them. The court permitted the plea but the order was challenged by the Home Secretary in January before the sessions court.
After the change in government in June last year, the case was transferred to the CBI in July 2022 and the Home Secretary submitted to the sessions court that the Union government wants to withdraw the appeal filed against the plea by Mumbai Police. In August, the FIR was re-registered by the CBI on August 19, 2022, for further probe.
In May this year, the CBI filed a closure report in the case stating that there is no evidence to proceed with the case and sought permission to close the probe. The SID gave its no-objection, following which, the court has posted the plea for orders.
During the MVA government’s term, two more cases linked to the alleged data leak and phone tapping were filed. In a case filed by the Colaba police, IPS officer Shukla was named an accused, claiming that she had tapped phone conversations of political leaders. A chargesheet was filed. After the change in government, the state rejected the police’s proposal to grant a sanction to prosecute Shukla. She has sought for a discharge from the case in the absence of the sanction, which is pending.
In another case filed by Pune police, a closure report was filed but it was rejected by a court in Pune in December 2022.