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id Narendra Modi instruct officers to allow Hindus to give vent to their anger and unleash communal violence? IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt and assassinated BJP leader Haren Pandya alleged he did. Most of the officers who attended a meeting at the chief minister’s residence on February 27, 2002, say he did not. The closure report of the Special Investigation Team, released last week, appeared to give Modi ‘a clean chit’, holding that even if the CM made a statement ‘within four walls’, it would not amount to a cognisable offence. But the discrepancies and inconsistencies on record in the SIT reports of 2010 and 2012, some of which we list below, will continue to cast shadows over Mr Modi’s political future and his prime ministerial ambitions.
Speak, Refute, Recant, Assert
The discrepancies on record in the SIT reports of 2010 and 2012 will continue to cast shadows over Mr Modi’s political future and his prime ministerial ambitions.
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1. Who attended the controversial meeting?
Curiously, while in 2010, the SIT reported that seven officers, in addition to CM Modi, attended a meeting at the chief minister's residence on the night of Feb 27, 2002, but in 2012 the number has gone up to eight. Thus ironically, 10 years after the carnage, it is the SIT from whom we get to learn about a new name as being one of the participants of the crucial meeting.
| Officer’s Name | 2010 Prelim Report | 2012 Closure Report |
| Prakash Shah, then Additional Secretary (Law and Order) | His name does not figure among the participants anywhere, not even by Narendra Modi in his statement | “has confirmed to have attended…” |
| Anil Mukim, then Addl PS to CM | “denied to have attended the meeting but all other participants have confirmed his presence in the meeting” | "he said he attended the meeting for some time and then left after taking permission from Shri P.K. Mishra IAS (Retd)" |
2. Did Modi tell officers that Hindus be allowed “to give vent to their anger”?
No, said K. Chakravarthi, then DGP; P.C. Pande, the then C.P. Ahmedabad; K. Nityanandam, then Secretary (Home); and P.K. Mishra, the then Principal Secretary to CM, in both the reports submitted by the SIT. K. Chakravarthi also contradicted and denied that he had expressed any discomfort to his junior ADGP R.B. Sreekumar on Feb 28 about any instructions given by the CM in this meeting, as was documented by the latter in an affidavit (his fourth on the subject).
But some who were either not mentioned as having attended the meeting, or had denied attending the meeting or suffered from a lapse of memory earlier, sang a different tune this time. No reason was provided for this sudden shift:
| Officer’s Name | 2010 Prelim Report | 2012 Closure Report |
| Swarna Kanta Varma, then acting CS | "She does not recollect as to whether… She has pleaded loss of memory due to passage of time." | "…she has denied…” |
| Ashok Narayan, then ACS (Home) | “He does not recollect…” | “He has denied …” |
| Anil Mukim, then Addl PS to CM | Not applicable as he had denied attending the meeting itself | “He has out rightly denied…” |
| Prakash Shah, then Additional Secretary (Law and Order) | Not applicable – as his name did not figure in this report | Affirms that "the Chief Minister did not say anything..." about the controversial statement and goes on to add that he "...instructed all the officers that communal peace and harmony be maintained at all costs and all possible steps be taken to control the possible communal flare up..." |
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