‘No one has immunity in criminal cases’
State home minister Dilip Walse Patil has clarified that Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis received notice as a witness to record his statement and not as an accused in the phone tapping case involving IPS officer Rashmi Shukla. Walse-Patil told the assembly on Monday, “No one has immunity in criminal cases.” Fadnavis, however, hit out at the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government saying that “I’m not afraid of jail. My father was in prison for two years during the Emergency without any charges. I will continue to expose corruption”.
As per Walse-Patil, it was a routine exercise, and nothing was done deliberately. He said, “The police had earlier sent Fadnavis a questionnaire but he didn’t reply. Last week, they sent him a notice to find out from where he got the information of phone tapping. The government has no intention to deliberately entrap or get him into trouble.”
Walse-Patil said the state government had appointed a committee to look into the matter and a case was registered against an unknown person after the committee’s report.
He told the House on Monday, “The police have recorded statements of 24 people. A notice under CrPC section 160 means the statement can be recorded at home or at the police station.”
Walse-Patil also said the police have also asked the Union home secretary to share the pen drive (about the alleged corruption in police transfers) given by Fadnavis.
Fadnavis, who was present in the House, said when he got the questionnaire a few days ago, he had said he would respond. He claimed the questions asked then were meant for an eyewitness account, but the questions asked during police questioning on Sunday were meant for an accused. He asked, “Is the question ‘Don’t you think you have breached the Official Secrets Act?’ meant for an eyewitness?”
“As a whistle blower, I am protected under the Act. I said the transcript (about the alleged scam) with me will be shared with Union home secretary since he is the competent authority,” Fadnavis said.