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CAT reserves order on Rahul Sharma’s petition

It has also asked state govt and IPS officer to submit final written arguments by March 20 .

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A bench of Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) comprising Ashok Kumar and Chameli Majmudar on Thursday reserved order on a petition filed by IPS officer Rahul Sharma challenging the charge sheet issued against him by the state government in connection with the CDs containing phone call records of the 2002 communal riots period.

With this, the bench extended Sharma’s deadline to file a reply to the government’s charge sheet till the outcome of his petition. The bench reserved the order following completion of verbal arguments from Sharma and the state government. However, it also asked both the sides to submit their final written arguments by March 20.

Sharma, who had filed the plea last year, had submitted that he was victimised for deposing before the Nanavati Commission, probing the 2002 riot cases, and submitting   CDs which became instrumental in nailing some accused in the riot cases. He submitted that the state government could not act against him as he enjoyed immunity under the Commission of Inquiries Act.
The state government had denied Sharma’s contention and described his petition as   premature. It further claimed that there was no connection between the charge sheet against Sharma and his deposition before the riots panel.

On Thursday, Bhaskar Tanna and Mahrooq Kerravala, counsels for the state government,  argued that there were contradictions in Sharma’s statements before the commission with regards to CDs, which they wanted to inquire.

Tanna pointed out from the two statements of Sharma before the Nanavati Commission that, at one point the IPS officer had said that the CDs submitted by him were not original one but a copy; while to another question, he had said that the master copy of the CD was still with him.

Sharma has appeared before the commission twice, first in 2002 in the capacity of police chief of Bhavnagar district, and then in 2004 when he submitted the CDs containing telephone call records.

The counsels further submitted that, at that point of time, the Nanavati Commission had  also conceived a view that that there needs to be an independent inquiry with regards to the CDs, which is what the state government had initiated by issuing notice to Sharma.

The IPS officer was charged for not submitting the original CDs to the respective investigating officers of riot cases or his supervisory officers or not depositing it as case property when he was transferred from the post.

In his petition challenging the charge sheet, Sharma has said that he had sent the CDs in question through a police messenger of the then Joint Police Commissioner (crime) PP Pande, after which the CDs became untraceable. The original CDs are now not traceable and only copies of it are available.

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