Ahmedabad:
A day after Home Minister P Chidambaram commented on Gujarat government's crackdown on cops, Chief Minister Narendra Modi has hit back. In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Mr Modi has accused Mr Chidambaram of promoting indiscipline in the state police force.
In the letter, the Gujarat Chief Minister also says that the Centre should not intervene in matters of the state.
Mr Chidambaram on Friday said that the Centre can intervene if the officers approach them. "The Gujarat issue is a matter of concern. Rules provide for the central government to take certain action. If the officer invokes the rule, certainly we will do it," Mr Chidambaram had said.
The Home Minister's statement came after Sanjeev Bhatt, Rahul Sharma and Rajnish Rai, three of Gujarat's Indian Police Service officers, claimed they were being harassed by the Narendra Modi government for cases pertaining to the 2002 riots in the state.
Rajnish Rai, who has for some months now been on a collision course with the state government, has filed a rejoinder with the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) alleging that he was victimised by his senior officers since he had carried out an unbiased probe in the Sohrabuddin case.
Sohrabuddin Sheikh was shot dead in November 2005 on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. His wife, Kauser Bi, was killed a few days later. At the time, Gujarat's Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) said that Sohrabuddin was a terrorist who planned to assassinate Modi. In 2007, the Gujarat state government admitted in court that Sohrabuddin and Kauser Bi had been wrongly killed. Some of the state's senior-most policemen are in jail, charged with murder, criminal conspiracy, and kidnapping. (
Read: Who was Sohrabuddin Sheikh?)
The Gujarat government also chargesheeted senior IPS officer Rahul Sharma today for passing on call records to the Nanavati Commission probing the post-Godhra riots in 2002 without informing the state administration. Mr Sharma has been charged on four counts under the Official Secrets Act for gross professional misconduct. (
Read: Gujarat riots - Narendra Modi govt targets another whistleblower cop?)
Earlier this week, the Gujarat government suspended police officer Sanjeev Bhatt. The 1988-batch IPS officer was served a five-page suspension letter by the state Home Department, charging him with unauthorised absence.
Mr Bhatt's suspension order came just three days after he told the Supreme Court that the state government, which is meant to prosecute those accused of the communal riots of 2002, has actually been leaking information for use in their defence.