Congress Party spokesperson Manish Tewari said that this was nothing short of a criminal conspiracy to make sure the truth did not emerge. “It Gujarat government is trying to cover up the entire matter,” he said.
He said that it was a “complete travesty” that documents pertaining to a “massacre and carnage” — which is under investigation by the highest court of the land and in which the “needle of suspicion is directly pointed at the chief minister of Gujarat” — gets destroyed in this manner.
Tewari was reacting over the news that the Gujarat government had destroyed telephone call records, registers of officers’ movement and vehicle log books of the State Intelligence Bureau (SIB) on the 2002 communal riots, were destroyed in 2007.
“At a time when investigation is on, the disappearance or destruction of documents that would have thrown light on whether the state machine was culpable or otherwise, clearly shows the government was involved in the cover-up”, he said.
Gujarat Congress chief Arjun Modhvadia also echoed Tiwari view saying the records were destroyed to protect Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his Cabinet colleagues.
“It is criminal negligence to destroy the records on which cases are pending in the courts, as well as a commission inquiring in the matter,” he said.
Lawyer Mukul Sinha of the NGO Jan Sangharsh Manch, which represents some of riot victims, said, “It is a terrible thing for the government to do. We had a feeling they had been destroyed.”
“Since all allegations were against police officers for inactions and negligence, destruction of SIB records could have serious implications,” he said.
On June 29 Senior counsel S B Vakil, representing the state government in the Nanavati Commission probing the 2002 riots, had said that telephone call records, officers’ movement registers and vehicle log books of the SIB pertaining to the period of 2002 riots were destroyed in 2007, as per government norms.
Vakil had made this revelation while talking to mediapersons after the interrogation of IPS officer Sanjeev Bhatt was over for the day before the Commission.
Now, with the records destroyed, it would be difficult to prove the allegations against the accused policemen and other political leaders, Sinha said.
“This could also affect the judgment in the Godhra train burning case as phone call records, movement records of police and political leaders prior, during and after the incident are no more,” he added.