<
div id=”pcl-full-content”>After much delay, the Maharashtra government on Thursday appointed 1988-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Rashmi Shukla, who is at the centre of several controversies, as the Director General of Police (DGP). The order to this effect was issued on Thursday and made her the first woman to hold this position in the state.
The then incumbent DGP Rajnish Seth was appointed as MPSC chief in October. He retired on Sunday and took charge as the chairman of the Mahasrashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) on Monday.
<img decoding=”async” src=”https://data.indianexpress.com/election2019/track_1x1.jpg” alt=”” width=”1px” height=”1px” “/>
Until Shukla’s appointment, Vivek Phansalkar served as the acting DGP.
Along with Shukla, two others were the front runners for the post. They were Sandeep Bishnoi, the head of the Police Housing Corporation and police commissioner Phansalkar.
Who is Rashmi Shukla?
A 1988-batch IPS officer, Shukla was the Pune police commissioner. One of the senior IPS officers in the Maharashtra police, she was on central deputation as an Additional Director General of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Hyderabad. She was eventually made the Sahastra Seema Bal (SSB) head. She also served as the Commissioner of State Intelligence Department (SID) during the earlier BJP-Shiv Sena alliance government led by Devendra Fadnavis between 2014-19.
She will retire as the DGP in June 2024. However, the Maharashtra government can likely give her extensions, as has been witnessed in the past in case of other DGPs. This must be viewed in the backdrop of the Prakash Singh judgment of the Supreme Court, which seeks a two-year tenure for DGPs so that one is not under any political pressure.
Controversies surrounding Rashmi Shukla
Her role as the commissioner of the state intelligence department was controversial as the phones of several political leaders were tapped when she was at the helm.
As soon as the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government was formed, which was by the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress, three FIRs filed against her in Mumbai and Pune for illegally tapping the phones of state Congress chief Nana Patole, NCP leader Eknath Khadse and Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut. She served as the Pune police commissioner then and later headed the SID.
One of the FIRs was registered for the alleged leakage of the phone tapping report. The case was transferred to the CBI after the Shinde-Fadnavis government came to power.
Of the three cases, Shuka was named as the accused in two.
In December, the Bombay High Court had quashed two of the three FIRSs, registered in Pune and Mumbai against her. After the Shinde government was formed, the third case was transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The case was closed after he court allowed the CBI’s closure report which paved the way for her return to the state.
About Post Author
