transfers.fyiतबादला

Register · No. 34

Rahul Sharma

IPS, Gujarat cadre, 1992 batch, Retired_voluntarily 2015

14transfers, as of Sep 2006; reports range from 12 to 14. 2 on the ribbon below, 1 of them documented.

  • Documented
  • One report
  • Years with no move on record

Gujarat officer who held Bhavnagar during the 2002 riots and later collected the phone records used against riot accused; moved 14 times by 2006, chargesheeted over the CDs in 2011, retired early in 2015, and cleared by CAT in 2016.

TOI (Sep 2006): 14 transfers. A Hindi opinion piece (2015) says 12 in 20 years; India Today's 2012 gallery reportedly says 12 (slide not read).

The moves, and what came of them

Oldest first. Each fold is marked by how well the record holds it.

  1. One report

    SP, BhavnagarDCP, Ahmedabad police control room

    During the 2002 riots he ordered firing on a mob heading to attack a madrasa sheltering about 400 Muslim children, and kept the district calm. He was moved out 38 days after taking charge.

    Up against
    Rioting mob; per former intelligence officer G C Raigar, a ruling-party member he arrested, BJP (per Raigar) Government: BJP (Narendra Modi), Gujarat.
    Reported reason
    G C Raigar, then state intelligence head, quoted by NIE: 'He saved Muslim children in a school. Not only saved but he also arrested some people and [he] arresting a ruling party member so they got him transferred from his posting.'
    The other side said
    The home department called such transfers 'routine' (TOI 2006).
    Outcome
    Low-profile post in the control room. (NIE 2017 places this move after he testified before the Nanavati Commission; India Today and TOI date it to 8 Apr 2002.)
    What became of the matter
    Not applicable.

    indiatoday.in

  2. Documented

    DCP, control room, Ahmedabad (assisting riot probes)11 State Reserve Police, Vav (near Surat)

    Asked to assist the riot probes, he obtained call-detail records from two mobile operators (Cellforce, AT&T) that India Today says implicated 'bigwigs'. Less than a week later he was taken off the probe and sent to the SRP. The CDs later went before the Nanavati Commission.

    Up against
    Political leaders and officials named in the call records Government: BJP (Narendra Modi), Gujarat.
    Reported reason
    India Today reports the sequence; no official reason given.
    The other side said
    The state questioned the CDs' authenticity, and in 2011 chargesheeted Sharma for keeping them.
    Outcome
    Shunted to the SRP; on CBI deputation from Feb 2004 (India Today).
    What became of the matter
    Evidence used officer cleared. The Nanavati Commission accepted the CDs as evidence; India Today says they, with other evidence, led to the arrests of former minister Maya Kodnani and VHP leader Jaydeep Patel. CAT quashed the chargesheet in Jan 2016, calling it 'coloured by malice and mala fides' and asking why the state's own officers kept a 'collective silence' about the CDs. Final outcomes of the riot cases are outside this record. indiatoday.in indianexpress.com

    indiatoday.in

Sources for the count