CBI officer Rahul Sharma to be summoned by Nanavati panel

Ahmedabad, June 5 (UNI) The Nanavati-Shah Commission today said it will summon CBI SP Rahul Sharma for the second time on June 8 for deposition in-camera so to as enable the commission to check the veracity of the compact discs (CDs) submitted by him.

Mr Sharma will be the first officer to depose in-camera before the two-member panel constituted by the Gujarat government to probe into the Sabarmati Express carnage and the riots that followed in its aftermath. The CDs which contained records of calls made from mobile phones between February 27 and March 7, 2002 in Ahmedabad had been submitted to the Commission by the officer in 2004 during his deposition.

''We have to first inquire about the second copy of the CDs which was submitted to the Justice U C Banerjee Committee by Mr Sharma,'' Justice (Retd) G T Nanavati said.

On a plea of the Jan Sangharsh Manch advocate Mukul Sinha, seeking an official probe into the CDs, he said, ''We do not give any credence to the CDs at present. We will call the officer and inquire about it.'' To another plea by Mr Sinha to summon Additional DGP R B reekumar, who had in his affidavit revealed that DGP K Chakravarty had conveyed to him Chief Minister Narendra Modi's directions to go soft on Hindu rioters, Justice Nanavati said it was not necessary as the Commission will treat Mr Sreekumar's affidavits as evidence.

When Mr Sinha pressed his plea on the ground that the government has trashed the ADGP's claim, the judge said that should not affect the Commission's view on the officer's affidavit.

''It will be taken as evidence, and we will study if it was biased or not,'' he added.

The term of the Commission, which has been given four extensions since it was set up in March 2002, is due to expire on June 30.

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