Son killed by cops, father is sacked by Gujarat govt

Samir, accused of plotting to kill deputy Prime Minister LK Advani and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, had been picked up on September 27. He was shot on Tuesday, allegedly while ‘‘attempting to escape after snatching a police weapon’’.

Surendra Baxi, Chairman of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation’s Transport Committee, says that a decision to dismiss an employee cannot be taken without following the procedure of serving a chargesheet, then a show-cause notice. ‘‘There is no other way,’’ he says.

Asked whether this procedure had been followed in Pathan’s case, he evaded a direct reply. ‘‘It has to be followed otherwise the decision gets challenged in the court, which revokes it and reinstates the dismissed employee,’’ he says.

Pathan insists he hasn’t been served any chargesheet or show-cause notice. ‘‘This is the first intimation I have received since I stopped going to work,’’ he says.

He says he stopped reporting for duty as he was afraid of driving buses on his route, which was through communally sensitive areas, during the riots. ‘‘Despite repeated requests to allot me a safer route, the authorities did nothing. So, I stopped going to work,’’ he says.

‘‘Later, when the city was returning to normal, my colleagues told me that my name was being associated with the bomb blasts on four AMTS buses. When I was not at work, how could I have planted the bombs?’’ Pathan asks.

Asked why he never filed a leave report or informed the AMTS authorities, he says, ‘‘Fearing for my life, I asked them to grant me long leave. But they refused.’’

Now, Pathan has been asked to visit the AMTS office on November 9 and settle his dues.