Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut launched a veiled attack at BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis by accusing the saffron party of following its “Maharashtra pattern” of illegally tapping phones in poll-bound Goa.
While speaking to media, Raut also alleged that the same pattern could be implemented in Uttar Pradesh, where results of the ongoing Assembly elections will be declared on March 10.
He claimed that he recently met a senior Congress leader in Goa who expressed apprehension over his phone being tapped.
“I met Goa Congress leader and former chief minister Digambar Kamat who expressed fear that his phone was being tapped. I say that not only him (Kamat), but phones of MGP leader Sudin Dhavlikar and Goa Forward Party’s (GFP) Vijay Sardesai are also being tapped,” Raut alleged.
The Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) had contested the polls in alliance with the Trinamool Congress. The GFP has tied up with Congress.
“Tapping phones of political opponents started in Maharashtra two years ago after the 2019 Assembly polls. Two FIRs have been filed against a woman officer who was involved (in the tapping of phones). The chief of this Maharashtra pattern was in charge of Goa polls,” alleged the Shiv Sena MP without naming Devendra Fadnavis, a former chief minister of Maharashtra.
Raut claimed that if Goa throws a hung Assembly, Central probe agencies will shift focus to the tiny coastal state.
It should be noted according to an FIR registered by Mumbai Police, senior IPS officer Rashmi Shukla illegally tapped the phones of Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut and NCP leader Eknath Khadse.
Earlier, Pune Police had registered an FIR against Shukla at Bund Garden police station in connection with the alleged illegal tapping of the phones of Congress leader Nana Patole when a BJP-led government was in power in the state.
