Ahmedabad: A dismissed head constable of
Gujarat police on Saturday backed IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt`s claim
that he had attended the February 27, 2002, meeting called by
the Chief Minister Narendra Modi, after the Godhra train
burning incident.
"On February 27, 2002, I received a message from the
Gandhinagar police control room at around 9:30 pm to check why
Bhatt had not reached Gandhinagar as he could not be
contacted," Naresh Brahmbhatt said.
According to Brahmbhatt, he was posted at Memnagar police
station in the city at that time.
"I was told to go and deliver the message at Bhatt`s
house," he said to a news agency over phone.
"On reaching Bhatt sir`s residence, I was told that he
had already left to attend the meeting ten minutes earlier,"
Brahmbhatt said.
Sanjiv Bhatt, a 1988-batch IPS officer, who was posted as
DCP at the State Intelligence Bureau (SIB) during the 2002
riots, has stated in an affidavit before the apex court that
he had attended the February 27 meeting where Chief Minister
Narendra Modi allegedly asked officers to be "indifferent" to
the rioters.
However, the then state Director General of Police, K
Chakravarthi, and Modi himself have denied that Bhatt was
present at the meeting on that day.
Brahmbhatt was dismissed by Gujarat government on May 4
this year while serving as head constable at Kothara police
station in West Kutch district on the charge of making
unauthorised statements about the police force and allegedly
praising Bhatt for his revelation with regard to 2002 riots.
PTI
