The Gujarat police on Friday questioned the authenticity of the 'diary' maintained by controversial additional Director General of Police R B Sreekumar, which, according to ADGP, has details of instructions allegedly given by Chief Minister Narendra Modi to 'eliminate minorities' during the Gujarat riots.
State DGP A K Bhargav told journalists that the police doubted the veracity of the contents of the diary as it was against the police manual for an official of Sreekumar's rank to maintain such a diary.
Replying to questions, the DGP said the sign and seal of O P Mathur (a retired additional DGP) on the diary is but natural on each page as the official concerned has to keep track that each page is in order.
The official said such signs and seal of a senior official were there in almost each 'diary' maintained by police officials across the state and just because the official (Sreekumar) shows its contents as 'explosive' does not mean that the contents are true.
Bhargav questioned why Sreekumar did not produce the diary before. "Why has he come forth with it now?" he asked.
The DGP, however, parried a question on whether the police will take any action against the official for making allegations against the CM and his superiors.
Sreekumar, who had criticised the functioning of the Modi government during the post-Godhra riots, had recently showed the diary to mediapersons through his advocate.
He said he has recorded several 'illegal' instructions he got, including that to tap phones of politicians who were against Modi.
The additional DGP has also filed an affidavit before the Central Administrative Tribunal challenging the government's decision not to promote him in January.
When contacted, Sreekumar stuck to his stand and alleged his phone was being tapped after he had begun giving statements against the government.
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Gujarat riots: The complete coverage