Mail Today, 5 August 2011
Gujarat riots report leaked to RSS man
By Poornima Joshi and Gyanant Singh in New Delhi
State additional advocate general shares crucial SIT reports with Sangh ideologue to help accused
GUJARAT IPS officer Sanjiv R. Bhatt has alleged in an affidavit before the Supreme Court that probe reports on the 2002 post- Godhra riot cases were forwarded by a state government law officer to an RSS man who used them to help riot- accused chalk out their defence.
Bhatt has annexed a number of hacked emails to buttress his charge that politicians in connivance with state government functionaries were engaged in a cover- up operation to secretly help the accused in riot cases.
In his affidavit, Bhatt has pointed out that email exchanges showed that reports by the apex court- appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) with regard to the probe into nine major cases of riots were sent to additional advocate general Tushar Mehta last year from a state government email.
Mehta allegedly forwarded the reports — purportedly sent to him by under secretary (home) Vijay Badekha — to RSS ideologue GurumurthySwaminathan who in turn prepared a note on the basis of the reports and sent it to lawyers appearing for the accused before the Supreme Court.
Gurumurthy, on his part, denied being part of any such operation. “I have never received any email pertaining to the ongoing SIT probe from Tushar Mehta or anyone,” he said.
He laughed when asked whether he was a recipient of information about the sensitive probe that threatens chief minister Narendra Modi. “
Reports to the contrary are mere concoctions.
I cannot recollect having received any such email,” he added.
Bhatt, meanwhile, has annexed another series of emails showing an attempt to help a chargesheeted accused in the Gulbarga Society massacre allegedly with the connivance or support of CM Modi himself.
The IPS officer alleged that Mehta had himself prepared a draft petition for the chargesheeted accused who had approached the apex court for relief and had even kept the chief minister’s office in the loop.
POINTING to the email exchanges, Bhatt said Mehta had sent a draft petition — to be filed before the SC — to the lawyers of the chargesheeted accused in Delhi on April 4, 2010.
The help did not end with this.
Mehta prepared a reply affidavit to be filed before the apex court on behalf of the Gulbarga accused and forwarded a copy to the principal secretary to the chief minister on April 15, 2010.
Mehta also forwarded a copy of the petition and the affidavit by the accused to Gurumurthy.
The email exchanges, which Bhatt claimed to have hacked as part of his duty to obtain intelligence with regard to commission of offences, showed that most affidavits filed on behalf of the state government passed through Gurumurthy.
“ The most objectionable aspect is that Sri Tushar Mehta has on one hand drafted the affidavit to be filed by the accused and on the other hand has also prepared the state’s affidavit in reply to the accused’s affidavit,’’ Bhatt said in his affidavit.
Bhatt has further pointed to an email sent to N. Ram of the Hindu imputing motives on judges for orders passed against Gujarat by the apex court. He alleged that the note on Gujarat cases was sent to Ram by Gurumurthy on February 17, 2010.
“ This requires to be viewed seriously by this Hon’ble Court,’’ he said in his affidavit.
The email to Ram particularly referred to a direction by the court to the SIT to probe into a complaint by Zakia Jafri who alleged that the riots took place pursuant to a conspiracy involving Modi, his cabinet colleagues and several government functionaries in the state.
Ram, on his part, said he did not remember any such email exchange and expressed surprise over the mention.
“ I have no recollection of any such email,” Ram said.
Bhatt — a 1988 Gujarat- cadre IPS officer — who has raised questions on the impartiality of trial in riot and encounter cases in Gujarat, claimed that the hacked email exchanges showed that government officers, lawyers and politicians were all hand- in- glove.
He pointed out that even a political memorandum prepared to be submitted to President Pratibha Patil was forwarded by former minister of state for home Amit Shah to the additional advocate general. The email showed that the law officer was actively involved in drafting of a political memorandum demanding investigation against Teesta Setalvad and her organisation.
THE Sangh ideologue had prepared the memorandum to be given to the President by a delegation comprising senior BJP leaders L. K. Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and Nitin Gadkari.
Coming to encounter cases, Bhatt pointed out that the SIT probing the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case sent an email concerning the case to Mehta in September 2009.
The case, however, was later handed over to the CBI by the Supreme Court which even passed certain strictures against one of the police officers, Geeta Johri.
The email exchanges showed that a letter purportedly sent by Johri to
the CBI SP who took over the encounter probe was in fact written by Mehta, Bhatt alleged.
After Amit Shah was arrested by the CBI in connection with the Sohrabuddin encounter case, Gurumurthy sent an email to Mehta asking for documents to defend him. In fact, his job as a law officer was just the opposite.
The bail application for Shah was also forwarded to Mehta.
Bhatt further alleged that Gurumurthy drafted the affidavit filed by additional secretary ( home) in the Zakia case.
Meanwhile, the apex court had recently sought scrutiny of the SIT probe in the Gulbarga Society massacre, in which Zakia’s husband was killed, by amicus curiae Raju Ramachandran.
After Raju submitted his report, the court decided not to give a copy
either to the SIT or to the state government.
It has reserved its order on the report.
( With inputs by M. C. Rajan in Chennai) gyanant.singh@mailtoday.in;
poornima.joshi@mailtoday.in
DRAMATIS PERSONAE OF THE CLANDESTINE OPERATION
THE ‘STATE’ STRATEGIST
S. GURUMURTHY
HE IS an RSS ideologue who likes to be known widely as an independent
chartered accountant. His influence is visible in not just drafting,
vetting and clearing court documents for various Gujarat riots accused
but also framing political strategy for the BJP to win over adverse
public opinion generated by the mass killing of Muslims in the state
in 2002.
So, SIT reports about the riot cases were duly dispatched to
Gurumurthy who then advised CM Narendra Modi and Mahesh Jethmalani,
officially an advocate for Kalubhai Maliwad, a former MLA and an
accused in the riots.
On March 27- 28, 2010, Modi was interrogated by the SIT. On March 30,
Gurumurthy forwarded a memorandum to be submitted to the President and
the PM by BJP leaders L. K. Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and
Nitin Gadkari, demanding a probe against civil rights activist Teesta
Setalvad and her organisation.
According to the affidavit, Gurumurthy was in touch with editor- in-
chief of the Hindu newspaper N. Ram.
Sanjiv Bhatt revealed in his affidavit that on April 18, 2010, the
then home minister of Gujarat, Amit Shah, forwarded a note on the
investigation for Ram to additional advocate general of Gujarat Tushar
Mehta.
The same note was forwarded to Ram by Gurumurthy on February 17, 2010.
This note casts aspersions on the SC. Ram said he had no recollection
of receiving any such email.
CHIEF MINISTER KEPT IN THE LOOP
NARENDRA MODI
Narendra Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat during the 2002 post-
Godhra riots also.
Zakia Jafri, the wife of Congress leader Ehsan Jafri who lost his life
in the Gulbarga Society massacre, had filed a petition in the Supreme
Court alleging that Modi, his cabinet colleagues and several
government officials were involved in the conspiracy behind the riots.
The court had asked the SIT to look into the complaint.
IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, who hacked into the emails of several
persons, alleged that chief minister Modi had been kept informed about
the efforts to help the accused in riot cases.
The IPS officer alleged that Gujarat additional advocate general
Tushar Mehta had himself prepared a draft petition for the
chargesheeted accused who had approached the apex court for relief and
had even kept the chief minister’s office in the loop.
LAW OFFICER WHO ACTED AS THE ‘ CONDUIT’
TUSHAR MEHTA
AS ADDITIONAL advocate general of Gujarat, he was supplied copies of
the SIT reports to help prosecute the accused in the various heinous
offences committed during the riots. Mehta, if Sanjiv Bhatt’s
affidavit in the Supreme Court is to be believed, farmed these reports
out to the RSS ideologue S. Gurumurthy for the purpose of helping the
ruling BJP frame its political strategy as well as for helping the
accused in their defence.
Shockingly, the affidavit illustrates that Mehta helped Bipin Ambalal
Patel, an accused in the Gulbarga Society massacre in which 35
innocent Muslims, including former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, was killed
by a rioting mob. Patel has been chargesheeted in the case. On April
2010 at 10.29 pm, Mehta prepared and sent a draft of the criminal
miscellaneous petition to be filed by Patel in writ petition criminal
number 37- 52/ 2002 to Gaurav Goel, the advocate of Patel.
On April 15, 2010, Mehta prepared a reply affidavit for Patel and sent
it to G. C. Murmu, principal secretary to Gujarat chief minister
Narendra Modi.
FRIENDS IN RIGHT PLACES
AMIT SHAH
HEwas the minister of state for home in the Narendra Modi government.
He was arrested by the CBI for his involvement in the Sohrabuddin fake
encounter case, but is currently on bail.
IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, who monitored his email account, alleged that important affidavits concerning riot cases were forwarded to him.
One of the mails hacked by Bhatt allegedly showed that the entire state government machinery had been entrusted with the task of gathering material to defend him in the Sohrabuddin case.
After Shah was arrested by the CBI in connection with the Sohrabuddin encounter case, Gurumurthy sent an email to Tushar Mehta asking for documents to defend him. In fact, Mehta’s job as a law officer was just the opposite.
The bail application for Shah was also forwarded to Mehta.
Bhatt has pointed out that even a political memorandum prepared for being submitted to President Pratibha Patil was forwarded by Shah to the additional advocate general Tushar Mehta.
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