PC Pande was present at Gulberg: SIT report

The Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) has considered the CD submitted by IPS officer Rahul Sharma as evidence to reach the conclusion that the then Ahmedabad police commissioner PC Pande was present at Gulbarg Society on the day of the mayhem. This is according to the closure report submitted by the SIT to the magisterial court on Wednesday night.
Sharma had prepared a CD containing the mobile call records between riots accused, police officers and politicians. The SIT had accessed the CD during the course of its investigation.

Slain former Congress MP Ahsan Jafri's widow Zakia Jafri, in her complaint to the SIT,   had submitted that Pande was present at Gulbarg Society when the crowd had gathered outside her house in the morning of February 28, 2002. But the SIT report — on the basis of the CD — says that Pande was present at Gulbarg Society between 7pm and 7.30pm.

SIT sources said that the CD did not show Pande's mobile tower position in the morning but it showed that he was there in the evening. "The CD was considered an important piece of evidence to prove Pande's location," they said.

Sharma had submitted the CD to the investigating agency. Sources said that this was the only evidence submitted by any police officer, which had been considered seriously by the SIT investigators.

Suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt had submitted evidences to the SIT but the agency did not consider them as the officer had initially told the SIT that he did not need to say anything. Sources said that Bhatt's evidences were not considered by the SIT as he had initially refused to say anything to the agency.