BJP suspects 'GOI elements' role in leak of Special Investigation Team report on Gujarat riots

New Delhi, Feb 4 : Suspecting the hands of 'elements of Government of India' behind the leakage of the portions of the Special Investigation Team report on the Gujarat riots filed before the Supreme Court, the BJP stressed the need for a probe into the leakage of the confidential information to the select media.

Reacting to the portions of the SIT reports submitted to the Supreme Court on the 2002 Gujarat riots finding their way to the media, BJP spokesman Ravishankar Prasad told reporters that the apex court had directed the SIT to submit the report in a 'sealed cover' and the BJP has not even have slight doubts about the impeccable integrity of the Court in maintaining the secrecy that was expected of it.

He said a similar report was filed before the SC giving out the details of 24 holders of secret bank account holders outside of India and till today not a single name had come out. It goes to the credit of the SC for maintaining the secrecy that was expected of it.

However, the elements in the GOI which was confronted with problems from all sides to divert the attention of the people from these issues had 'engineered' the leakage to the select media after the SIT submitted its report to the Court in a sealed cover, he said. He, however, would not go into the 'contents of the leaked information' because they were before the SC for consideration and it had not formed its views.

He said riots were unfortunate and condemnable wherever they happened but it went to the credit of Gujarat that it had highest record in awarding punishment for the crime where over 700 people were convicted for the offences including 70 who were awarded with Rigorous Imprisonment ranging from 10 to 20 years.

Of all the parties, the Congress can not raise questions on Gujarat riots after its own tainted record in 1984 riots against Sikh community in Delhi and other parts of the country. The party spared no effort to save the likes of its leaders like Sajjan Kumar, Jagdish Tytler and its President Rajiv Gandhi went to the extent of justifying the riots when he remarked 'the earth is bound to shake when a big tree falls', Mr Prasad said.

As far as Gujarat after the riots were concerned both Hindu and Muslim communities were living harmoniously with amity and good will. Even the leaked records said that there was no evidence of interference by Mr Modi or others but he would not comment upon it as he was not privy to the report except the leaks and the Court has not even considered it.

Gujarat to build 'Statue of Unity' in memory of sardar Patel: Narendra Modi

Gujarat to build 'Statue of Unity' in memory of sardar Patel: Narendra मोदी

Nagpur, Feb 4 : Chief Minister Narendra Modi announced that people of Gujarat will build the world's tallest statue, the 'Statue of Unity', in memory of Iron man Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel at Sardar Sarovar Project, on the lines of 'Statue of Liberty' at New York in United States

He was addressing the gathering of 'Swarnim Gujrat Mahotsav' here. Gujarat Tourism Corporation president Kamlesh Patel, Gujarati Samaj city president Jayprakash Parekh were present on the occasion.

Mr Modi said ''In United States, there is a huge Statue of Liberty'. On the same lines, we have decided to build statue of Sardar Patel in the Narmada river. It will be known as the 'Statue of Unity'.'' He said the stucture would not be built with the government money, but through contribution from people of Gujarat.

Sardar Patel does not being only of the Government, but he was a representative of entire Gujarat and India, he noted.

The Chief Minister further said the statue would be two times taller than Statue of Liberty and highest in the world.

He appealed to everyone to come forward for the development of Gujarat and participate in the state's growth story. It is a service to the nation and service for the nation, he added.

''In Gujarat, you will find development works everywhere. It's a symbol of our growth story,'' Mr Modi claimed.

Gujarat questions IPS officer for furnishing riots call data

AHMEDABAD: Following the Special Investigation Team's (SIT) report that indicted Gujarat's chief minister Narendra Modi for his alleged complicity in the 2002 riots, the state government has taken a senior IPS officer to task for sharing telephone records with various inquiry panels.

The Gujarat administration issued a show-cause notice to senior IPS officer, Rahul Sharma, asking him why he should not be charge-sheeted for handing over the telephone records concerning the 2002 riots to inquiry panels without obtaining due permission from the government.

The in-charge Director General of Police Chitranjan Singh confirmed the issuance of the show-cause notice and added that the government had granted 15-day time to Sharma to reply to the notice.

Sharma was posted in Ahmedabad during riots. He had asked private service providers like Celforce and AT&T to furnish details of calls made across the state during late February and early March of 2002. The CDs obtained by Sharma, however, went missing before it was brought on record by the investigating agency, the city crime branch that probed three major massacres of the city at Naroda Patia, Naroda Gam and Gulbarg Society.

When Sharma was called for deposition at the Nanavati-Shah commission, he submitted a copy of the CD to the inquiry panel. Later, he also submitted a copy of call records to the Banerjee committee, set up by former union railway minister, Laloo Prasad to probe the incident of fire in S-6 of Sabarmati Express at Godhra station on February 27, 2002. It was after killing of 59 passengers in this incident, violence spread across the state resulting in more than 1,100 deaths.

After the Supreme Court set up a special investigation team in 2008, Sharma was one of the key witnesses for the SIT to probe the larger conspiracy behind the riots. SIT also got telephone details from Sharma. He has been examined by one of the special courts set up to hear post-Godhra riots cases.

Following the recent SIT report, the Modi government questioned Sharma on why he furnished the data before the probe panels without consulting the government.

Interestingly, the Narendra Modi government has been questioning the authenticity of the call details provided by Sharma to different inquiry panels. When the chief minister was sought to be questioned in connection with the 2002 riots on basis of the call details, the government raised a question on veracity of the data claiming before the Godhra probe panel that the CD furnished by the senior cop was not verified by any authority.

All must benefit from state’s best practices: Modi

All must benefit from state’s best practices: Modi

Chief Minister Narendra Modi today stressed the need to evolve a model work culture of best practices in good governance for public services, initiating a group discussion on 18 topics on the third day of the 7th Chintan Shibir at Mehsana.

Collectors, district development officers and municipal commissioners took part in each group discussion, followed by a question-answer session after the presentation on best practices. Emphasis was on agriculture and township services in the state’s golden jubilee year.

Modi said that best administrative practices and successful experiments employed by the Gujarat government should be modelled to extend the benefits to the people of the entire nation, and experts should deliberate on it and sketch a model to actualise it.

The chief minister was speaking on the third day of the Chintan Shibir, at which he joined the discussion initiated by Dr Ajay Kumar.

SIT findings ensure Narendra Modi can't shake off riot taint

NEW DELHI: In a serious blow to Narendra Modi's reputation as an able administrator, the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) has indicted him on over a dozen counts for his alleged complicity in the Gujarat riots of 2002.

The confidential report of the SIT, which has been reproduced extensively by Tehelka magazine, has upheld much of the complaint lodged against Modi and his administration by Zakia Jafri, widow of former Congress MP Ahsan Jafri who had been killed during the riots.

The SIT submitted its 600-page report to the Supreme Court in May 2010 after it had, among other things, questioned Modi for 10 hours. Its damaging observations against Modi are despite the SIT's admission that several witnesses had declined to testify for what was merely a preliminary enquiry and not a criminal investigation under the law.

Key findings of the inquiry done by former CBI officer A K Malhotra under the supervision of SIT chairman K Raghavan are as follows:

* "The chief minister had tried to water down the seriousness of the situation at Gulbarg Society, Naroda Patia and other places by saying that every action has an equal and opposite reaction," Malhotra reported. "His implied justification of the killings of innocent members of the minority community, read together with an absence of a strong condemnation of the violence that followed Godhra, suggest a partisan stance at a critical juncture when the state had been badly disturbed by communal violence." Raghavan added that Modi's statements were "sweeping and offensive coming as it did from a chief minister, that too at a critical time when Hindu-Muslim tempers were running high."

* The report said that Modi's 'controversial' move to place two senior ministers — Ashok Bhatt and I K Jadeja — in the Ahmedabad city police control room and the Gujarat state police control room during the riots with "no definite charter" fuelled the speculation that they "had been placed to interfere in police work and give wrongful decisions to the field officers."

* The report affirmed that police officers who took a neutral stand during the riots and prevented massacres had been transferred by the Gujarat government to insignificant postings in a highly 'questionable' manner.

* "The Gujarat government has reportedly destroyed the police wireless communication of the period pertaining to the riots," SIT said, adding, "'No records, documentations or minutes of the crucial law and order meetings held by the government during the riots had been preserved."

* The report said Modi displayed a "discriminatory attitude by not visiting the riot-affected areas in Ahmedabad where a large number of Muslims were killed, though he went to Godhra on the same day, travelling almost 300km on a single day."

* According to the report, the Gujarat government did not take any steps to stop the illegal bandh called by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad on February 28, 2002. On the contrary the BJP had also supported the bandh.

* The SIT report also pointed out that the police administration did not impose curfew in Naroda and Meghani Nagar (Ahmedabad city) until 12 and 2pm respectively on 28.02.02 although the situation had by then severely deteriorated at both those places.

* The SIT discovered that the state police had carried out shoddy investigations in the Naroda Patia and Gulbarg Society massacre cases and deliberately overlooked the cellphone records of Sangh Parivar members and BJP leaders involved in the riots.

* The SIT has also found evidence against the then minister of state for home Gordhan Zadafia (who was reporting directly to Modi) and top police officers such as M K Tandon and P B Gondia for their alleged complicity in the riots.

* SIT confirmed that the government appointed VHP and RSS-affiliated advocates as public prosecutors in sensitive riot cases. The report states: "It appears that the political affiliation of the advocates did weigh with the government for the appointment of public prosecutors."