Senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday claimed that the Maha Vikas Agadi (MVA) government in the state did not act on an "incriminating" state intelligence department report containing the audio intercepts of a "large scale corruption" in police transfers and postings, and said he would seek a probe by the CBI.

Fadnavis said he possessed "6.3 GB data" of the calls intercepted by then Commissioner of Intelligence Rashmi Shukla with due permissions, where names of several key police officers were taken.

The BJP leader further elucidated that all these phone calls were recorded by Shukla with due permission from the state government but despite the submission of the report to the Chief Minister (Uddhav Thackeray) in August, 2020, no action was taken on the report.

"I am demanding a CBI probe in this matter," he said.

Jibing back at Fadnavis, the NCP, which is one of the constituents in the Shiv Sena-led MVA government, said the former was "misguiding" people.

According to The Economic Times report, Fadnavis told reporters, "The report of then commissioner of Intelligence, Rashmi Shukla, has mentioned names of senior police officers, IPS officials, and politicians among others. It is a very sensitive information thus I am not disclosing the details of it currently."

"It was a part of racket and completely illegal hence a raid was conducted and arrests were made. Commissioner of Intelligence, Rashmi Shukla, had come to know about a similar activity and sought proper permissions from then ACS (additional Chief Secretary), Home, and intercepted phone calls of several police officials and politicians," said Fadnavis, who had held Home portfolio when he was chief minister.

Fadnavis claimed, "The conversation in the 6.3 GB data is all about home and police department alone. All the officials whose phone calls were recorded got the posts they lobbied for. This proves that calls intercepted by Shukla had important details."

NCP spokesperson and state minister Nawab Malik rejected Fadnavis' claims terming them as "another attempt to bring down the MVA government".

"The BJP cannot live without power. But they will not able to topple this government like in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and some other states. BJP's state leadership is thus seeking the Centre's help to malign the image of the MVA government and to bring it down," he said.

Image courtesy: PTI