Following revelations by the Mumbai Police that the phones of Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) party leader Eknath Khadse, along with other leaders, were tapped on the pretext of their being “anti-social elements”, Mr. Raut lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Centre for offering protection to police officers “who were working for one party”.
Alluding to senior IPS officer Rashmi Shukla, who was the State Intelligence Department (SID) chief during the phone tapping incident, Mr. Raut said that the numbers were classified as belonging to anti-social elements and that the phones were tapped during the critical period when the tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition of the Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress was being formed.
According to the Mumbai Police’s investigations, Mr. Khadse’s phone was tapped for 67 days while Mr. Raut’s was tapped for 60 days.
