Rashmi Shukla appointed Maha DGP

MUMBAI: The state government on Thursday appointed 1988 batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Rashmi Shukla as the Maharashtra director general of police (DGP), making her the first woman police chief of the state. Her name was cleared for elevation after all three criminal cases against her regarding alleged snooping on several leaders of Maha Vikas Aghadi were dropped/cleared by the current government. She is likely to take charge on Monday as all director generals of police are attending a conference in Jaipur.

HT was the first to report on August 24 that she could become the DGP of Maharashtra.

Currently director general of the Sashastra Sena Bal, Shukla was one among three contenders for the top post, the others being police commissioner Vivek Phansalkar and Police Housing Corporation chief Sandeep Bishnoi. All three were shortlisted by the empanelment committee of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), which shared their names with the state government.

Though the UPSC had initially raised questions about Shukla, and some Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders were against her appointment as DGP, her name was cleared during the UPSC’s meeting on Friday, which was attended by the outgoing chief secretary Manoj Saunik.

Sources in the state bureaucracy said that former DGP Rajnish Seth’s appointment as chairman of the Maharashtra Public Service Commission was cleared in October 2023 so that Shukla could be appointed as police chief. They added that while she wanted to be the Mumbai police commissioner, her political bosses did not want to upset equations in the city’s police force.

Shukla has in the past served as Pune police commissioner, additional director general (traffic), inspector general (law and order), deputy inspector general (administration), superintendent of police in Nagpur and deputy commissioner of police in Solapur. Her stint as the state intelligence department commissioner was controversial as the department allegedly tapped the phones of top political leaders during this period and she was booked in three criminal cases for alleged snooping.

The first case was registered by the Mumbai cyber police on March 26, 2021, based on a complaint by the state intelligence department against unknown persons for allegedly leaking a report submitted by Shukla. The report was regarding alleged payments for transfers within the police department and the FIR against Shukla was registered after Devendra Fadnavis, then leader of opposition, presented the report in a press conference and sought high-level probe into the allegations.

In February 2022, the Pune police booked Shukla for allegedly tapping the phones of several politicians during her tenure as the city police commissioner. Though Pune police filed a closure report in the case in December 2022, the court rejected the same stating that there was enough prima facie evidence against her.

A week after the second FIR, in March 2022, Colaba police registered a third and similar FIR against her. The chargesheet in this case was filed in April 2023, while Shukla approached the Esplanade court seeking discharge from the case.

All three cases were dropped/closed after the BJP-Shiv Sena government assumed office in June 2023. The case registered with the cyber police was transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation, which filed a closure report claiming there was nothing “to establish as to from where, by whom and when the documents in question were handed over to Shri Devendra Fadanavis.” The case was subsequently closed by the Esplanade metropolitan magistrate court in August 2023.

The same month, the Bombay high court struck down the cases registered against Shukla in Pune and Colaba on the grounds that the state government had refused to grant sanction to prosecute her.

Shukla’s elevation as DGP drew mixed reactions from opposition leaders. “She was given a clean chit without any inquiry and the UPSC also raised many questions about her. But the state government appointed her regardless, which is sad,” said state Congress general secretary Sachin Sawant.

“This is the first time a lady has been appointed as DGP and we welcome it. I don’t want to comment on her past,” said Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut.

“She faced serious allegations and the law should have taken its course. It is unfortunate that she has been appointed DGP,” said NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) leader Clyde Crasto.