Mumbai: In a significant reshuffle, Rashmi Shukla, who’s an IPS officer of 1988 batch, has been appointed as the new Director General of Police (DGP) for the state of Maharashtra.
Concurrently, Rajnish Seth, the DGP of Maharashtra Police and an IPS officer from the 1988 batch, has been appointed as the new Chairman of the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC).
The Chairman of the MPSC, Kishorraje Nimbalkar, retired on Wednesday, leaving the position vacant. The process to appoint a new Chairman had commenced, and applications were invited. At that time, Rajnish Seth had applied for this position. A committee under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Manoj Saunik had scrutinized the applications received and sent a list of three names to the Chief Minister for consideration.
In this list, Rajnish Seth, ST Corporation’s Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Shekhar Channe, and retired senior officer in the Forest Service Pradeepkumar were included. Among these three, Rajnish Seth’s name was at the forefront. Ultimately, Rajnish Seth has been chosen for the position.
IPS Rashmi Shukla was also tipped to be the next DGP of the state police. As Seth vacated the post, Shukla has been appointed to head the state police force. Rashmi Shukla is the latest appointee for the post of Director General of Police (DGP) in Maharashtra. She is one of the most senior IPS officers in the state, having joined the service in 1988.
Shukla has a reputation of being a dynamic and proactive officer, who launched several initiatives like ‘buddy cop’ to enhance the safety and security of women and senior citizens in Pune, where she served as the Police Commissioner. She also headed the State Intelligence Department (SID), where she was responsible for gathering and analyzing intelligence inputs. She was shunted out from her SID post to a non-executive post of Civil Defence by the MVA government. She then opted for Central deputation as ADG Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and was posted in Hyderabad till now.
The Bombay High Court dismissed two unlawful cases of phone tapping against Shukla earlier this month. She was charged in the first FIR in Mumbai for tapping the phones of Sanjay Raut, a leader of Shiv Sena (UBT), and Eknath Khadse, a leader of Nationalist Congress Party, without permission. In the second FIR in Pune, she was alleged to have tapped the phones of Nana Patole, a leader of Congress, illegally.
She has also been alleged to have leaked a classified report that exposed a nexus between some police officers and middlemen who offered transfers and postings for money. The complaint said that she had leaked a confidential report that she had made in 2020 when she was the commissioner of SID. Shukla has denied any wrongdoing and has claimed that she acted in the interest of national security and public service.
