In what could be a clean chit to former Gujarat DGP P.C. Pande, Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) has told a court here that there was no evidence of dereliction of duty by the IPS officer during the 2002 riots.
The submission was made yesterday by the SIT in the court of special judge B.J. Dhandha, hearing the Gulburg society riot case, where 69 persons including ex-MP Ehsan Jaffery were killed on February 28, 2002.
Some of the victims of the Gulburg society riots had filed an application in the court early this month demanding that Pande and three other police officers be made accused in the case on charges of dereliction of duty.
Special public prosecutor R.C. Kodekar made oral submission opposing the application moved by the riot victims, contending that there was no evidence on record against Pande and others, including P.B. Gondia the then DCP Zone IV, S.S. Chudasama, who was ACP (crime branch) in February 2002, and former joint commissioner of police M.K. Tandon (now retired).
Also, out of the over 300 witnesses examined during the trial in the case, none had implicated Pande or others nor was any complaint filed against them, he said.
Kodekar further said the victims' application to make Tandon an accused in the case was already rejected by the court last year as the SIT had said that investigation with regard to Tandon was on and a report regarding this was submitted to the Supreme Court.
The court has reserved order on the victim's application for May 31