Muslim India

Top police officers expose Modi's bias, KPS Gill's role
WSN Network

New Delhi: EVEN AS THE Indian Corporate world led by the likes of Ratan Tata and Anil Ambani wants to see Hindutva mascot like Narendra Modi as the next Prime Minister of India, this beloved of the Indian right wing communal forces was splashed in some more shame when two senior police officers told the investigators in a Supreme Court-appointed panel that the Gujarat CM had a pronounced anti-Muslim bias.  

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the 2002 anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat saw R.B. Sreekumar, a former additional director general of police (ADGP) who was in-charge of the state Intelligence Bureau during the riots, and Rahul Sharma, the then Bhavnagar Superintendent of Police, questioning the impartiality of the administration.  

“The Chief Minister summoned me to his chamber on May 7, 2002, and instructed me not to concentrate on Sangh Parivar, as its members were not doing anything illegal. He asked me to concentrate on Muslim militants, and get data on Amanpath, suspected to be a Muslim group,” Sreekumar said in his affidavit. Narendra Modi was the CM then.

Predictably, Modi's government kept mum after the allegation came to light. Modi was famously denied visa by the US because of his ugly record on the human rights front.  

What was even more important was the police officer's revelations about KPS Gill. This man with a blot the size of the Indian ocean on his face, as a result of his all-blemished track record in Punjab during militancy years, was the one found encouraging Modi in his devious plans.  

“K.P.S. Gill, the adviser to the Chief Minister, had told state police chief K. Chakravarthy not to reform the politicians — meaning thereby , not to take any action against the VHP and Bajrang Dal. The adviser also wanted the police to vacate the riot victims living in the relief camps, exhibiting a clear anti Muslim bias,” Sreekumar said in his affidavit.  

Sreekumar says he is prepared to be cross-examined, and has stood by what he stated on oath in the affidavits. 

Sharma, who is a Deputy Inspector Gneral, CBI, in Mumbai, said: "Minister of State for Home Gordhan Zadaphia had contacted me and said the ratio of deaths as a result of police firing was not proper. What I understood was that, he was complaining about more number of deaths of Hindus as compared to Muslims in Bhavnagar city ." 

In his affidavit, prominently reported by the Hindustan Times, Sharma said a large part of the police records related to riots had been destroyed and “it was on my own conscience that I managed to submit to the investigating agencies what I could protect”.  

Interestingly , Sreekumar and Sharma both faced the wrath of the Modi government for not toeing the “official line”. Sreekumar, who retired in February, was chargesheeted in 2005, for leaking intelligence reports.  

Last year, the Ahmedabad bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal quashed the government order and directed payment of all dues to him and slammed the government for denying him a promotion. Sharma was shunted out of Bhavnagar within days of his talk with Zadaphia to an insignificant position in the Ahmedabad Control Room.

18 February 2009