 By TwoCircles.net staff reporter
Ahmedabad : Jan Sangharh Manch representing riot victims has presented to Godhra Commission an analysis of CD containing data of telephone calls made between policemen, politicians and rioters from mobile phones questioning their role during the 2002 communal violence.
This analysis highlights the role of some Police official, Politician, Chief Minister and perpetrators of the riots following Godhra incident in 2002. Numbers of people from minority community were killed in this riot. NGO requested Commission to go through the analysis. However, Panel said it would see it only after Gujarat government submits its own analysis of the CD.
Later, Advocate Mukul Sinha representing the NGO screened the contents of his analysis to the media in the form of a power-point presentation. Presentation clearly shows that police force were no where near the places where large-scale massacres took place. Instead they were in peaceful areas. Mr. SInha said he concentrated his analysis of record of calls of nine persons, including the Police Commissioner of Ahmedabad city, the Joint Commissioner, Deputy Commissioners, Home Minister and some riot accused.
Sinha claimed the police officials in their affidavits filed earlier before the Commission had defended their `inaction' during the riots stating that they were heavily outnumbered and overpowered by an overcharged mob. However their calls record shows that the police were not at all present at the massacre sites to be outnumbered," Sinha said.
He said analysis of the CDs have been done by co-relating the mobile phone records with the wireless records from the Ahmedabad police control for the same period (largely between Feb 28 and Mar 4, 2002).
"The mobile phone records of five (BJP) politicians, including the Chief Minsiter, show there were all present in Shahibaug locality when the riots were taking place on February 28, 2002", he added.
Displaying graphs that he had prepared, Sinha showed how some senior politicans and police officers were also in touch with some of the riot accused.
Sinha said the CDs were sourced by the Ahmedabad crime branch from the two mobile companies — Cellforce and AT & T —- which were operating in Gujarat in the year 2002.
The CDs were submitted by CBI officer Rahul Sharma (who was an Gujarat police official of DSP-rank during the riots) to the Commission when he came to depose before it on October 14, 2004.
He said the CDs contained data of over 10 million calls that were made between February 28, 2002 and March 4, 2002 when the communal riots were at its peak in Gujarat.
Earlier today, the Nanavati-Shah Commission granted two weeks time to the Gujarat government to submit its own analysis of the CDs cautioning that if it fails in doing so the panel will go ahead with the proceedings considering that the government does not have a reply to make on the issue.
"The data in the CDs will not show how the (rioting) incidents occurred but it could show the conduct or negligence of persons connected with the riots," the chairman of the Commission Justice G T Nanavati (retired) observed.