Ahmedabad:
The Gujarat government has taken action against IPS officer Rahul Sharma for his role in the post-Godhra riots. Sharma's crime: Without taking the Modi government's permission, he helped lawmakers by submitting CDs containing call details of politicians and police officers between February 27 and March 4 to the Nanavati Commission investigating Godhra riots.
These records showed rioters on the streets post-Godhra train carnage were in touch with policemen and politicians.
Now the Gujarat government has issued a showcause notice to Sharma asking why he should not be charged with professional misconduct.
The notice also asks Sharma why he did not inform the investigating officer probing the riot cases that he had a copy of the CD containing the data.
The original CD which Sharma had given to the crime branch had gone missing. Later, he submitted copies of the CD to the Nanavti Commission and the Banerjee Committee.
But the biggest question is why didn't the government initiate such an action when Sharma submitted the copy of the CD some years back to the probe panels.
Sharma appeared as a witness before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) appointed by the Supreme Court to probe the conspiracy behind the riots.
He also gave the call details to the team which in its report to the court had reportedly indicted Narendra Modi.
"This incident of Mr Sharma just shows to what extent Modi can go to block justice. I remember my good friend Arun Jaitley had said in 2002 that they are setting up a Nanawati Commission and that commission will come out with its report in four months. We are now in 2011 and those four months are not yet over," Union minister Kapil Sibal said.
The Modi government has refused to react, saying it's an administrative matter.