Riot court summons IPS officer in Naroda Gam case

A special court trying the 2002 Naroda Gam riot case here today summoned the investigating officer Himanshu Shukla of SIT to explain how a CD containing certain phone call records went missing.
Judge P B Desai asked Shukla to remain present before it on June 1.
The sixty five accused in the case have filed an application seeking the prosecution of former IPS officer Rahul Sharma for allegedly destroying the CD.
The lawyer of the special investigation team said that the original CD was misplaced and not destroyed as claimed by the accused, following which the court directed Shukla to furnish an explanation.

The accused have also sought action against former investigator and IPS officer P L Mall for not taking action against Sharma.
Advocate Chetan Shah, the accused's lawyer, contended that Sharma had destroyed the original CD containing the call records of certain state leaders and officials during the riots and submitted a duplicate before the Justice G T Nanavati Commission which probed the riots.

Sharma allegedly gave the CD to the Joint Police Commissioner P P Pandey who however denied having received it, the application says.
Eleven persons from the Muslim community were killed by a mob on February 28, 2002, in the Naroda Gam, a day after the Godhra train burning incident.

Former Gujarat minister Maya Kodnani, convicted in Naroda Patiya riot case, and Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Jaydip Patel are among the 83 accused in this case.
Shukla is now a Superintendent of Police in the anti- terrorism squad.