Govt counsel questions authenticity of CD,JSM objects

The JSM had earlier moved an application to summon Chief Minister Narendra Modi,some of his ministers,office staff members and some senior police officers,for their alleged suspicious role during the riots.

On Saturday,Advocate General Kamal Trivedi appeared on behalf of the state government and argued that the chief minister and others cannot be summoned to appear before the Commission as many points raised in the application are factually incorrect. Earlier on Friday,the government counsel had made a written submission before the Commission in this regard.

The Advocate General questioned the authenticity of the data contained in the CD prepared by IPS officer Rahul Sharma,which is one of the evidence on which the JSM application is based.

He said the absence of the ‘official’ CD containing the mobile phone data raised question on the authenticity of the evidence.

He added that Sharma had originally stored the details of the CDs,procured from two cellular service providers,in his personal computer at home and had then prepared a separate CD after ‘editing’ the data in the hard disk of his personal computer. As such,the CD could not be relied upon,he said.

Mukul Sinha later told the media,while countering the claim: “The AG is questioning the content of the CD based on which the SIT has done a significant investigation and arrested sitting MLA Dr Maya Kodnani and VHP leader Jaydeep Patel. By questioning the authenticity of the CD’s content,the government is questioning its own senior police officer. We will file a rejoinder to this along with other things.”

Further proceedings have been scheduled for July 15.