A fortnight ago, the Pune police had registered a criminal case against its former commissioner Rashmi Shukla for blatant violation of the Indian Telegraph Act. That was followed by another offence being registered against her at the Colaba police station under the same law.
In both the cases, the contention of the law enforcing agencies was that Shukla illegally tapped cell phones of leading politicians, including state Congress president Nana Patole, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut and NCP leader Eknath Khadse. The FIR specifically mentions that tapping was for a prolonged period of time, much beyond the permissible duration.
Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey, who the then DGP, conducted a probe into the cell phone tapping episode and submitted the report following which criminal cases were registered against Shukla. She has already approached the high court, which had granted her protection from coercive action. Anil Deshmukh was the home minister then, and based on a confidential report submitted to him, he had declared that Khadse's cell phone was under surveillance when Devendra Fadnavis was the CM. In the wake the criminal cases against Shukla, Patole and Khadse are in the process of initiating defamation proceedings against her.
Khadse felt that merely declaring that his cell phone was under surveillance is not enough, home minister Dilip Walse Patil must disclose the entire conversation in public domain so that people at large will know with whom the politicians were interacting and was it against national interest. The Indian Telegraph Act provides for tapping of cell phones in national interest, but in the present case, it was found that cell phones were tapped for political reasons and for obliging the political leadership under the BJP rule, said Khadse
New DGP hits the ground running: A day after he unexpectedly took over the reins of the Mumbai Police, Sanjay Pandey, an IPS officer of the 1986 batch, has made his presence felt in the city. Besides surprise visits to police stations, he took up small issues concerning Mumbaikars, particularly the safety of senior citizens and rampant traffic violations across the metropolis.
It was found that wrong side driving was a major problem on key roads, and it aggravated owing to lack of visibility of senior police officials on the road.
On occasions, the menace was brought to the notice of traffic deputy commissioners, but the complaints were not taken seriously. Now, DGP Pandey is of the opinion that merely imposing fine is not enough; stringent action is necessary. He has asked traffic cops to invoke the provisions of the IPC and Motor Vehicle Act, take the offenders to the police station and register a criminal case and remove "khatara vehicles" from roads. Another area of concern was of passport verification.
At most police stations, there was rampant harassment and red tapism. Although police officials do give appointments to applicants, when the applicant reaches the police station, either the official is not present, or the citizen is called the next day. Pandey also realised there was no end to noise pollution owing large-scale construction works, and there, too, he has imposed stringent restrictions. The biggest challenge before Pandey will be to ensure that his directions are implemented in letter and spirit, said a veteran bureaucrat.
