2002 Gujarat riots: The CDs that were too hot to handle

Senior IPS officer Rahul Sharma’s career is on the line for trying to expose the perpetrators of the 2002 communal riots. Sharma had compiled and analysed the mobile call records made by several ministers and top cops when the when the city was on fire following the Sabarmati Express train carnage on February 27, 2002.

Sharma is now facing the government ire and is likely to be chargesheeted under the Official Secrets Act after he allegedly failed to reply to a show cause notice issued by the home department this February.

Ironically, unlike IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, who was suspended this week, Sharma has not uttered a word against the state government in any public forum. But it was the mobile call record CDs of several ministers and top cops that he had analysed that became a matter of controversy.

The records show the movement of some top people during the 2002 communal riots. Sources claimed that Sharma was assisting the Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) which was handling the initial probe in the riot cases. “He extracted the mobile records from AT&T which is now Idea and Celforce, now Vodafone and compiled them in CDs. Sharma was then working as DCP, police control room. But when he was transferred, he sent this CDs to top officers of the DCB through a messenger of the police control room,” said the source.

The sources further claimed that the CDs that were sent were allegedly destroyed by the officers but Sharma had saved a copy of the same in his computer. These copies were then submitted to various forums.

“The government also tried to undermine the CDs instead of using them to investigate the riot cases. It had even stated before the Nanavati Commission that the CDs are not authentic,” said sources.

If sources are to be believed the government is unhappy with Sharma for submitting the CDs to the Nanavati Commission, UC Banerjee Commission and the SIT. The government is blaming Sharma for not depositing the CDs with his higher officials and not making a mention of it during the case. Sharma was summoned by the Nanavati Commission and he had submitted the CDs during his cross examination conducted by Mukul Sinha, advocate for JSM, a civil rights organisation that represents the riot victims.

Sharma had also submitted the CDs before the justice UC Banerjee committee, which was constituted by then railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, to probe the Sabarmati Express train carnage. Sharma later also submitted the CDS to the Supreme Court appointed SIT to probe the riot cases.

Based on the CDs, the SIT proved the presence of the then health and woman welfare minister Maya Kodnani and former Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Jaideep Patel at the place where the Naroda Patiya and Naroda Gam massacre took place.

Both the leaders were then arrested by the SIT and were later released on bail. Few other politicians including VHP and Bajrang Dal leaders, police officers and government officials are under scanner for their role in the riots. Sinha, who is now also the lawyer for Sharma, termed the government’s action ‘ex-facie vindictive’ and said, “if a government official does his duty to reveal the truth he should not be treated in a manner that questions his credibility.”

Sinha said it was surprising that on one hand the government had challenged the authenticity of CDs submitted by Sharma before the Nanavati Commission and on the other hand it issued show cause notice on the grounds that the CDs were submitted without its consent.” Sharma refused to comment as he had not received a copy of the charge sheet.