Ex-IPS Rahul Sharma, who took on Gujarat govt, to be lawyer

Ahmedabad: After opting for early retirement from the Indian Police Service, Rahul Sharma, who had crossed swords with Gujarat government over the probe of 2002 riots, on Saturday applied to the Bar Council of Gujarat (BCG) to be enrolled as a lawyer.

"His application would be decided by our enrolment committee," said Anil Kella, member of BCG.

Sharma, a 1992-batch officer of Gujarat cadre, had provided some crucial information to the Justice G T Nanavati commission which probed the 2002 post-Godhra riots; later he faced a charge sheet from Gujarat government over the act.

Sharma, an IIT alumnus, told PTI he wanted to get into legal practise as he had often dealt with the law during his 23-year-long police service.

Also, he had "forgotten the engineering skills now" and therefore decided to become a lawyer, he said, in a lighter vein.

"I was an engineer, that is why I made the CD," he said, in an apparent reference to the CD of call records which he had provided to the Nanavati commission.

Asked if he planned to work with the NGO working for riot-victims, Sharma said, "I will surely work for them, but I will not become their member. I will start my practise with service matters and later migrate to civil, criminal cases."

He sought retirement in November 2014, and was relieved by the Gujarat home department last month. His last rank was Deputy Inspector General of Police.

After his wife's death in 2013, he had sought transfer to Gandhinagar or Ahmedabad, but it was denied.

Sharma came into limelight when he submitted a CD of call data record of some ministers, state officials and leaders of right-wing groups like Bajrang Dal and VHP during the riots which also provided clues about their whereabouts in the period.

In 2011 the state government charge-sheeted Sharma for not submitting the CD of call data record to the concerned investigating officers instead of handing it over to the commission.

He was served with six show cause notices for alleged misconduct. He has challenged the notices and the charge sheet before the Gujarat High Court.