Narendra Modi clears chargsheeting of Rahul Sharma. Sharma charged with giving call to Nanavati commission.
After Sanjiv Bhatt, another Gujarat IPS officer, Rahul Sharma has earned the ire of the Narendra Modi government in connection with the 2002 riots probe, with authorities issuing a show cause notice to him asking why he should not be charge sheeted for giving CDs of call records during the violence to various agencies including SIT.
Sharma, a DIG rank officer, today filed a petition in the Gujarat high court challenging the state government's decision of not providing him the "grounds" on which he was served the show cause notice on February 5 over the CD containing call records during the riots.
The state government might contemplate taking action against Sharma after the notice period ends today, officials said.
The petition was mentioned before Justice Abhilasha Kumari who has posted it for tomorrow.
Sharma, who was posted in Ahmedabad during the 2002 post-Godhra riots, had given CDs containing phone call records of the 2002 riots to various agencies including Nanavati Commission and the SIT.
In his petition, Sharma has said that he asked the state government on what grounds he was issued the show cause on the matter, but the state government denied him the information.
Sharma had also filed an application under the right to information (RTI) act seeking details of the grounds on which the notice was served to him.
If action is taken against Sharma, he would be the second officer to face music after Sanjiv Bhatt, a 1988 batch IPS officer who was was suspended on Tuesday after he was locked in a public confrontation with the Gujarat government over post-Godhra riots.
In an affidavit to the apex court, Bhatt had alleged that he had attended a crucial meeting convened by chief minister on February 27 2002 after Godhra incident, in which Modi had instructed senior government officials to allow Hindus to "vent out their anger" during the clashes.
The apex court, however, had declined to take Bhatt's affidavit on record
Sharma, who is presently DIG of Ars Unit in Rajkot, had asked the private service providers like Celforce and AT&T to furnish details of the calls made across the state during late February and early March of 2002.
From the call records and the data obtained from the service providers, Sharma had prepared a CD detailing the calls made by important people in state administration including the ministers, police officials and also of VHP and Bajrang Dal activists.
The CD obtained by Sharma, however, went missing before it was brought on the record by the Crime Branch that had initially probed three major massacres of the city at Naroda Patia, Naroda Gam and Gulbarg Society.
However, Sharma had submitted the copy of the CD to Nanavati Commission, Banerjee Commission (appointed by former Railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav) and to the Supreme Court appointed SIT.
The state government had also questioned the authenticity of CDs submitted by Sharma in front of the Nanavati commission.
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