Ahmedabad: Suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt on Saturday submitted a few documents to RK Raghavan, the chief of Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the 2002 Gujarat riots, along with a letter claiming that they proved police inaction in the first 48 hours of violence.
"Please find... copies of some relevant documents which should convince you that for some inexplicable reason, Ahmedabad City Police was exceptionally lax in making preventive arrests on February 27, 2002, despite the anticipated likelihood of widespread retributory violence in view of the VHP-BJP sponsored Gujarat Bandh on February 28," says Bhatt's letter.
"They will also convince you that most police and administrative units in Gujarat, including Ahmedabad City, delayed the imposition of curfew," it says.
Besides, the letter alleges, "The requisition and effective deployment of Army was irreparably delayed".
"These documents are being submitted for the sole purpose of ensuring that crucial evidence is not disregarded or concealed by the SIT with a view to screen powerful and influential offenders from legal punishment."
Bhatt has also reminded the SIT about "my repeated requests for getting my statement recorded before a Magistrate under the provisions of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973".
The documents submitted by Bhatt include lists of deployment of police, SRP and RAF in the state, areas under curfew, types of crimes committed during the riots, etc.
The letter says that Bhatt had given this information to the SIT earlier too.
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