IPS Rahul Sharma gets notice for mobile data CDs

The state government has issued a show-cause notice to IPS officer Rahul Sharma in connection with the CDs containing a record of cellphone calls made during the first few days of the 2002 riots.

Sharma had acquired the data as part of the initial probe into the violence and had first submitted the CDs before the Nanavati commission.

By a strange coincidence, the state government has served the show-cause two days after the Tehelka magazine published an exposé of the Supreme Court-appointed SIT’s findings as given in the probe team’s final report.

Sharma is one of the six IPS officers who, according to the Tehelka report, were victimised by the state government for refusing to obey illegal orders during the riots.

Later, Sharma had also tried to reveal before the Nanavati commission the alleged nexus between the government machinery and the rioters.

Sharma, who is currently DIG, Arms Unit and is posted at Rajkot, was issued the show-cause notice late on Friday night. The notice is based mainly on the fact that he had submitted a copy of the mobile call data CDs before the Nanavati commission, without the approval of the state government. He has been given 15 days time to file a reply.