Cop fails to explain Gulbarg massacre

A senior official of the Gujarat police on Wednesday failed to give any specific reason why policemen posted outside the Gulbarg Society in the Meghaninagar area failed to prevent a massacre in February, 2002 during the post-Godhra riots.

M k Tandon, the then joint commissioner of police, Ahmedabad city, told the inquiry commission of Justice (Retd) G T Nanavati and Justice (Retd) K G Shah that the mob turned violent after firing from someone inside the Gulbarg Society. Forty residents of the society including former Congress MP Ehsaan Jafri, had been killed in the incident.

Tandon, who was cross-examined by advocate Mukul Sinha of the Jan Sangharsh Manch, said the mob then broke the wall of the society, barged in and torched the houses.

Denying that police were inactive, Tandon said officials present there had opened fire to disperse the rioting mob. But he failed to give any specific reason why the massacre could not be prevented.

Tandon, who is at present range IG (Surat), said the communal situation in the city after the Godhra train carnage was "unprecedented" and the then city police commissioner had not called any specific meeting to discuss steps to tackle the situation.

He, however, said the police commissioner was in constant contact over wireless with officials and they had met occasionally to assess the situation.

Tandon was in charge of the Sector II of the city where the Naroda Patiya massacre that claimed 80 lives also took place.

Asked if police were inactive despite being positioned at the Gulbarg Society, Tandon replied in the negative and said even police was not spared by the mob when they tried to rescue the residents.

Denying that he had received any phone calls from Jafri, who was torched alive, Tandon, however, said he did get a message from the police control room saying the former Congress MP wanted to be shifted to a safer place.

Asked why he did not visit the Gulbarg Society in spite of getting the message, Tandon said he was on his way to the highly sensitive Dariapur area and he sent two DYSPs and a company of CISF for protection of the residents there.

When Sinha asked him whether he or the then police commissioner was present when either of the massacres occurred, Tandon replied in the negative.

Asked what were the apprehensions of police after the Godhra incident, Tandon said one was the possibility of Kar Sevaks being attacked and the other reprisal attack on Muslims.

Tandon was groping for replies when asked why was not a single senior police officer present when either of the two massacres occurred even though the police control room had information of mobs gathering in large numbers at both places.

Tandon cited the jamming of phone lines and over-flooding of riot-related messages as reason for not getting the news of the Naroda Patiya massacre on time.