Seven years before the Supreme Court ordered a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the alleged role of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi (58) and his administration for aiding and abetting the 2002 riots, the state police had informed the government about suspected role of a BJP leader and VHP-Bajrang Dal workers during the riots.
The letters, details of which are available with HT, are part of government records. And while the state sat on it, the SIT has not taken any cognisance of it.
In a April 19, 2002 letter, then Ahmedabad police commissioner P.C. Pande had informed then Director General of Police K. Chakravarty that BJP MLA Bharat Barot (then state civil supplies minister) is suspected to have aided and abetted a case of rioting in the city’s Delhi Darwaja area with support from Bajrang Dal workers.
In another letter on April 22, 2002, Pande had told Additional Chief Secretary Ashok Narayan that “groups providing support to the government are indulging in activities which can in future prove to be adding fuel to the fire.”
In the first case, five persons were arrested and released on bail with no action against Barot (58), the government choose to dump the second letter. Barot is a five-term sitting BJP MLA from Ahmedabad’s Dariyapur-Kazipur assembly constituency.
Pande, now Gujarat’s police chief, wrote the letters on the basis of inputs provided from the Special Branch. He could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.