Mail Today, 8 August 2011
Truth is an ‘official secret’ in Modi land
By D. P. Bhattacharya in Gandhinagar
Top cop faces non- bailable secrets Act charge for raking up 2002 Gujarat riot muck on Modi
THE Gujarat government has cleared the decks to chargesheet a 1992 batch IPS officer for breach of official secrecy, within a week of suspending another IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt for exposing the Narendra Modi establishment’s alleged collusion with the 2002 Godhra riots accused.
Sharma had caused enormous embarrassment for the Modi government after he produced mobile phone call details of the top police officers, bureaucrats, politicians, VHP leaders as well as other riots accused before the Nanavati Commission and other panels probing into the 2002 communal violence in the state.
The chief minister’s office has cleared the chargesheet against Sharma, accusing him of the breach of the official secrecy Act, it has been learnt. The move is being seen as a sign of the growing desperation within the state government over increasing judicial pressure regarding its role in the riots.
Sharma was posted as the deputy commissioner of police ( control room) Ahmedabad after the riots. He had been asked by then Ahmedabad police commissioner P. C. Pandey to assist in the riots probe, following which he procured the cell phone call details from service providers — AT& T and Cell force.
Interestingly, Sharma was transferred to the low- profile post in Ahmedabad for ruffling the feathers of the saffron brigade while he was the SP, Bhavnagar. Sharma had opened fire at a Hindu mob which was on its way to attack a madarsa in the town.
Before Sharma could analyse the call details, he was shunted out as the DIG, state reserve police at Vav in south Gujarat.
Sharma had maintained that he had sent the two original compact discs, containing the call details to P. P. Pandey.
While those two CDs never resurfaced, Sharma had kept a copy of the call details on his computer and later submitted them to various probe panels, including the Nanavati Commission, the justice U. C. Banerjee commission and finally before the Supreme Court- appointed Special Investigation Team ( SIT).
Though the state government had questioned the authenticity of the CDs, as a matter of fact, former Gujarat minister and riot accused Maya Kodnanai and VHP leader Jaydip Patel were arrested on the basis of the call details, further corroborated by other evidence.
However, when contacted, Gujarat DGP Chittaranjan Singh feigned ignorance of the matter and passed the buck on the home department. Till filing of this report, additional chief secretary ( home) Varesh Sinha was not available for comment.
Sharma said that he is yet to receive the copy of the chargesheet. In the meanwhile, he moved the Gujarat High Court on Thursday challenging the denial of information, which he needed to file the reply of the show cause notice served on him by the state government in February.
His lawyer Mukul Sinha said his efforts to seek the information have been stonewalled by the state government.
“ Their strategy is simple, first serve a show cause then withhold the requisite information and subsequently file a chargesheet,” Sinha said.
The Congress demanded that whistleblowers be given protection by the Centre and the Supreme Court, alleging that an effort was underway in Gujarat to “ silence the truth”. “ The government is doing everything so that facts about the Gujarat massacre remain buried forever,” party spokesperson Manish Tewari said.
Tewari claimed that RSS man, S. Gurumurthy, was not only micro- managing the ‘ Save Narendra Modi campaign’ in Gujarat but was also the author of the “ BJP’s Task force” report on black money. He reiterated the party’s demand to shift all riots- related cases out of Gujarat.
Earlier on Monday, the state government had served a fivepage suspension letter on 1988- batch IPS officer Bhatt, charging him of unauthorised absence.
The suspension order came just three days after Bhatt told the Supreme Court that the state government, which is meant to prosecute those accused for the communal riots in 2002, has actually been leaking information for use in their defence. In an affidavit filed in the apex court on Friday, Bhatt included emails that allegedly show how the state government was sharing information with the defence counsel.
( with Bureau inputs)
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[SEE ALSO BOX]
IN MODI’S LINE OF FIRE
KULDEEP SHARMA
Had directed the submission of the interim report of the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case before the Supreme Court, which led to the arrest of some of the senior IPS officers.
The matter finally led to the doors of Gujarat minister of state for home Amit Shah.
Sharma was given a non- descript assignment as the MD, Gujarat state sheep and wool development corporation. His annual confidential report too was downgraded.
He moved the Central Administrative Tribunal and in turn got the chargesheet against him quashed. He is now on a central deputation
RAHUL SHARMA
Saved about 300 Muslim kids from an irate Hindu mob in Bhavnagar in 2002. He was transferred as the DCP, Ahmedabad ( PCR). In this low key posting, Sharma procured the cell phone call details of the political leaders, bureaucrats and radical elements, exposing the systemic collusion in the 2002 riots. He was immediately shifted to Surat. Later, he joined the CBI on deputation. Upon his return to the parent cadre, he was posted at Rajkot as the DIG armed unit. In February he was served a show cause
SANJIV BHATT
The 1988 batch IPS officer filed an affidavit in the SC, alleging Modi had told senior IPS officers to go soft on the rioters at a meeting at the latter’s residence.
a separate affidavit, he claimed that there was a nexus between the state judicial officers and the riot accused. An FIR was filed against Bhatt and he was suspended
R. B. SHREEKUMAR
Had put the Gujarat government in the dock after filing six affidavits before the Nanavati Commission. The affidavits had details from the diaries he had maintained during his tenure as the state intelligence chief. The state government had denied him promotion and he took the matter to the CAT, which ruled in his favour. He also won the case in the state HC
RAJNISH RAI
The 1992 batch IPS officer who was handed over the charge of investigation in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case after Geetha Johri arrested accused IPS officers, including DG Vanzara. His ACR was also downgraded, which he challenged in the CAT, which later stayed the downgrading in April this year government filing The from took which also HC
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