Mr Sanjiv Bhatt writes to SIT Chairman Mr R K Raghavan in regards to prosecuting Narendra Modi - 25 Jan 2012

8/3/2019 Mr Sanjiv Bhatt writes to SIT Chairman Mr R K Raghavan in regards to prosecuting Narendra Modi - 25 Jan 2012

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No. SRB/SIT/120125/01Sanjiv Rajendra Bhatt IPSCamp: Ahmedabad,Date: January 25, 2012

Shri. R. K. Raghavan IPS (Retd.)Chairman,SIT- Godhra Riot Cases,Gandhinagar.

Sub: Unwarranted dilemma regarding prosecution of Mr. Narendra Modi.

Ref: 1. My letter No. SRB/SIT/110318/01 dated March 18, 2011.2. My letter No. SRB/SIT/110322/01 dated March 22, 2011.3. My letter No. SRB/SIT/110406/01 dated April 06, 2011.4. The Indian Express, Ahmedabad- Late City Edition of Dec. 09, 20115. My letter No. SRB/SIT/111210/01 dated December 10, 20116. Divya Bhaskar Ahmedabad Edition-26th December, 2011.7. My letter No. SRB/SIT/111226/01 dated December 26, 20118. My letter No. SRB/COI/120104/01 dated January 04, 20129. Mr. Suresh Mehtas letter dated January 05, 2012

10. My letter No. SRB/SIT/120106/01 dated January 06, 201211. My letter No. SRB/SIT/120115/01 dated January 15, 201212. The Times of India, Ahmedabad Edition dated January 25, 2012

Respected Sir,

1. This is with reference to a front page news item published in The Times ofIndia, Ahmedabad Edition dated January 25, 2012 under the title:

Prosecute CM or not? SIT seeks legal advice. A copy of the said news

item is annexed herewith for ease of reference.

2. Your attention is drawn to my depositions before the SIT, especially thedetails regarding my interaction with the Chief Minister on February 28,

2002; with respect to the situation that was then developing at Gulbarg

Society, Ahmedabad. As informed to the SIT as well as the LearnedAmicus Curiae Mr Raju Ramachandran, I had personally met the Chief

Minister Mr Narendra Modi twice on February 28, 2002. The first meeting

was in the forenoon, whereas the second meeting was in the early

afternoon of February 28, 2002. Details of both the above referred

meetings have been provided in my deposition before the SIT. As already

stated in my deposition, numerous Situation Reports and Alert Messages

regarding the deteriorating Law and Order situation across the State,

including the developing violent situation and imminent carnage at

Gulbarg Society, were contemporaneously sent to the Office of the Chief

Minister. Additionally, the Chief Minister Mr. Narendra Modi, was also kept


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telephonically informed about the contemporaneously developing situation

at Gulbarg Society. Facts regarding the complete inaction of Police at

various locations were also conveyed to the Chief Minister all throughout

the day. A compilation of some of the Alert Messages already submitted to

the SIT, as well as my deposition before the Honourable Justice Nanavati

and Justice Mehta Commission of Inquiry is annexed herewith for ease of

your reference.

3. I am briefly reiterating some very relevant facts, regarding the abovereferred second meeting, which have been already conveyed by me to the

SIT as well as the Learned Amicus Curiae in SLP (Criminal) 1088 of 2008,

Senior Advocate Mr. Raju Ramachandran. As already stated in my

deposition before the SIT, by the time of the second meeting with the

Chief Minister on February 28, 2002; the carnage at Gulbarg Society had

begun in full view of the Police personnel who were deployed there forbandobust duties. The Chief Minister was accordingly briefed about the

complete police inaction and complicity. The Chief Minister was also

explicitly informed about the imminent threat to the lives of Ex-MP Mr.

Ahesan Jafri and his family members. Surprisingly, on conclusion of the

above referred second meeting, the Chief Minister instructed me to find

out the details regarding the past instances wherein Mr. Ahesan Jafri had

supposedly opened fired on Hindus during earlier communal riots in

Ahmedabad City. Upon exiting from the said meeting with the Chief

Minister, I was informed by my Control Room and other State Intelligence

Bureau sources stationed at Gulbarg Society, that a few minutes ago Mr.Ahesan Jafri had opened fire on the riotous mobs. This made it amply

clear to me that the Chief Minister was already fully aware of the on-going

carnage and was independently getting real-time information updates on

the developments that were taking place at Gulbarg Society. Soon after

returning to my office, I was visited by two staff members from the Chief

Ministers Office who informed me that the Chief Minister had sent them to

collect details regarding past offences registered against Mr. Aehsan Jafri.

This was immediately followed by a similar telephonic request from

Cabinet Minister Mr. Ashok Bhatt who was stationed at Ahmedabad City

Control Room by the Chief Minister, earlier that day.

4. As explicitly conveyed to the SIT and the Learned Amicus Curiae, theabove described conduct of the Chief Minister made it unambiguously and

absolutely clear that the Chief Minister Narendra Modi was not interested

in discharging his constitutionally mandated legal obligation of directing

the Police Force to act with all firmness in order to protect the life and

property of helpless citizens. Instead, during the currency of the gory

carnage, he sought to condone and justify the Police inaction by having

the clairvoyant foresight to collect information which could be ultimatelyused to build up a case that the on-going carnage at Gulbarg Society was


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triggered by the act of unprovoked firing on the riotous mobs by Mr.Ahesan Jafri. The shamelessly devious conduct of the Chief Minister, amember of his Cabinet and his Office Staff was grossly indicative of thefact that the Chief Minister himself was complicit in the wantondestruction of life and property of helpless citizens at Gulbarg Society,Ahmedabad. These acts of commission and omission on the part of theChief Minister Mr. Narendra Modi, on February 28, 2002, amounted tofacilitation and abetment of the gruesome carnage at Gulbarg Society.As a retired officer of the Indian Police Service, you would be fully awarethat such acts of criminal commission and omission by a High-Constitutional Functionary like the Chief Minister would clearly amount toacts of Abetment as defined in Section 107 of the Indian Penal Code1860; and accordingly, would be liable to be charged and punished, interalia, under sections 109, 112, 115, 117, 118 and 119 of the Indian PenalCode 1860.I t is highly disturbing that despite the availability of substantial directevidence, as well as overwhelming circumstantial evidence; the SIT isapparently making last ditch attempts to save the Chief Minister and otherinfluential persons by taking recourse to so-called legal advice. I n fact, assubmitted to you earlier, any attempt by the SIT under your stewardship,at suppression and/or disappearance of vital evidence with a view toscreen the high and mighty offenders, including Mr. Narendra Modi, fromlegal punishment would ultimately result in complete miscarriage ofjustice. This would not only undermine the faith of the victims in ourCriminaj-Justice System as the high and mighty persons responsible forfacilitating and orchestrating a hate-driven pogrom would go unpunished;but we as a Nation would also collectively miss a momentous opportunityto break free from the unholy and diabolical tradition of citing oneunpunished carnage to justify another and thereby set an example thatwould deter all public functionaries from abdicating their constitutionalobligations for narrow sectarian gains and short-term electoral benefits.

With best wishes and the last flicker of hope,Yours sincerely,

(Sanjiv Bhatt)Copy with compliments:

1. Mr. Raju Ramachandran, Senior Advocate and Learned Amicus Curiae.2. Mrs. Jakia Nasim Ahesan Jafri, Surat.3. Ms. Teesta Setalvad, Citizens for Justice and Peace, Mumbai.


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Prosecute CM or not?SIT seeks legal advice~hniedabad: he Specialln-vestigation Team (SIT), appointed by Supreme Court toprobe thepost-Godhrariots ofGyiarat,hass o w t egalopin-ion on whether to prosecutefive persons, induding chiefministerNarendraModi,giventheevidencetheyhave.Theof-ficials havewritten to SIT'S1e

gal adv iw i closuresouaht . i reoort

i galadviserinthisconnection. t theirI Besides Modi. the list in- gi. EUf cormrator ~i;in"Pan- cokolicitvin the 2002 cornmu-i c l u ~ormer&or general chal and &lice insr&tor K G nalhots.SITsources saidthisi o~-mceFC~eW>-~~da.-: ditional DGP MK Tandon. in- "We have now'spector general of police,.PBGondiya and deputy superin-tendent of police KKMysore-wala. Zakia Jafit, key witnessin the Gulbarg Society mas-sacre of 2802, had fled a com-

plaintbeforetheSITagainst62persons ncludingModi,otlierpoliticians, op IAS andIFSof-ficersfornegpgence.SIThas m r d e d the statemenb of all the 62 accused.Based on this, five ef the 62were amsted, including for-mer state W t e r MayabenKodnani, formerVHP leaders

opinion on whetherthe pri&facie evidences collectedagainstModiandthe fouroth-ers are p ~ u t a b l e , "aid anSIT officer. Modi has been ac-cused of provoking the 2002communalriotswhilethecopshave been accused of negli-gence. SIThas lsoaskedtheirlegal adviser on whether thecops' negligence should betreatedascriminal nnatnre.TheSITislikelytofileaclo-sure report for the remaining48accused.ThismeansthattheSIThasnotbeenable to collect

on& tbe legal adviser replies to the queries, the SITmemberswi l lfllea finalreportontheirfindings.Duringthe41-vestigation, Jafti had filed anapplication seeking to dropcharges againstthreeIPS offi-cers - Satish Verma, KuldipSharma md Rahul Sharma.One of the accused, formerWarat minister and speakerof stateassembly;AshokBhatt,diedin2011.b HC reservesorderonpleato summanMsdl,~P


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FAX MESSAGE(PR I~ ITY :RASH) -

To: CPM a b a dInfo: PSto CM Gandhinagar

PSt6MOS(Home)OandhinagafHome Secandhinagar

kD.G.P. int61ligpc8,G.S., hinagarrm: %- No. [E2/2-CUR#AlERTIlOOPL002 Oak 27.2.2002TEXT:

aPursuant to the W n g held by ttie Hon'Me M iMinister it has becamedear that the StabGa\Pemmentwkhes togo atoeadwfth thedecisionof ringingthedead bodies of Kar SevakstoAhmedabad by raaB underP d i scort (.)

/ The dead bodies w511 be brcwght to Sola Civil Hospital in your jurisdictionbefotvrb&gtakr#l6utfor (.) Lacalcadresof BJP/BajrangDal are beingrnmsivdy mobilized fw the VHP/B.JP smppxtd -rat W h .)Wmread reSributiory t m fwwd violenoe k in your jurisdicltion (.)

f Dy. cimUiir98-& (Security)For. Addl. D.G.P., lnt,G.S., iwlhinagar


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3, '> ~ ' .{ i ' 1 - \ , t q t ' 8 ' 1 1" .;. \.,2!! t,, 1; 1-I?)-.."- < .. ,..! I:: < , I ,> . L, : 7 ; , , ,y ( :qJ r t ::;.,;,, 4, !. " : , ' , I . !, 0:< * -..


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- FAX MESSAGE(PRIORITY: CRASH)FS to CM Sar8G:iinapariPS, to MOS (Home)H ~ m eec Gandiiinaga:Police GandhinagarCP Ahmedabad

FROM Addl. D.G.P. Intelligence,G.S., GandhinagarDate: 28.2.2002

TextAs infonned t e l e p h ~ s r i ~ d l yo the Hon'ble CM Ex-MP EhsanZafri and his family members residing at Gulmarg Society, Charnanpura,Megkaninagar have been surrounded and are being attacked by a Hindu Mob in thepresance of Police Bandobust (.) The lives of Fhsan 7afri and other family members 1are in imminent danger (.)CP Ahmedabad is requested Po take immediate effective action

and provide a situation report to SCR under intimation to this office at the earliest (.)&//q ,L

(Sanjiv Bhatt)Dy.Commissioner (Communal),. ,-.,. F o r Add!. D.G.P., fnt., G.S., Gandhinapar


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Mr Sanjiv Bhatt writes to SIT Chairman Mr R K Raghavan in regards to prosecuting Narendra Modi - 25 Jan 2012