IPS Rashmi Shukla appointed as Director General of Police Maharashtra
IPS Rashmi Shukla appointed as Director General of Police Maharashtra
Rashmi Shukla, an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer from the 1988 batch, was named Director General of Police by the Maharashtra government on Thursday.
As announced in October, she succeeded her batchmate Rajnish Seth, who retired on Sunday and assumed leadership of the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC).
Shukla was the additional director general of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) prior to her central deputation as the head of Sashastra Seema Bal. She had led the State Intelligence Department (SID) and served as Pune police commissioner while employed by the state police during the Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP administration.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government perceived her as having close ties to the BJP government after it took office in the state in 2019. In 2020, it moved her from her position as the State Intelligence Commissioner (SID) to the non-executive position of Civil Defence.
More than three months had passed since the Bombay High Court dismissed the two phone-tapping cases brought against the IPS officer before Shukla was named chief police officer.
Shukla faced charges in the first FIR for tapping the phones of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Eknath Khadse and leader of the Shiv Sena Uddhav Thackeray faction, Sanjay Raut.
She was accused of tapping a politician’s phone in the second Pune FIR.
She is also charged with leaking a confidential report that revealed a connection between some police officers and middlemen who demanded payment in exchange for postings and transfers. According to the complaint, she disclosed a classified report that she had written in 2020 while serving as the State Intelligence Department’s (SID) Commissioner.
Shukla, however, has denied any misconduct and asserted that her actions were motivated by public service and national security.
