29, Jun 2017

Where were the Top Cops when Armed Mobs Surrounded and Attacked Gulberg Society?

Commissioner of Police PC Pande
Curfew was declared in the Meghaninagar area where the GulbergSociety is located at 12.54 pm (according to the Police Control Room Records-PCR ). By then, according to data of the PCR itself, the Gulberg Society had already been surrounded by a mob of 4-5,000 armed with weapons. (12.38 p.m., PCR Records).

In law, the Commissioner of Police, PC Pande has the responsibility of declaring curfew on time. At 2.09 p.m. PI Meghaninagar KG Erda even asked for Central Forces but the PCR records show no deployment of paramilitary forces in the area till late in the evening, a decision that should have been taken by the Commissioner of Police, PC Pande.

Joint Commissioner of Police, Sector II, MK Tandon
He finds himself more comfortable in the Revdi Bazar area between 2 and 3 p.m. immediately after he received a call from his boss, Commissioner of Police PC Pande informing him of the attack on the residents of the GulbergSociety in the Meghaninagar area (Revdi Bazar is five kilometres away from the Gulberg Society)

When the PCR sent a message to Tandon mentioning that Shri Ahsan Jafri and other residents of the Gulberg society were in danger, Tandon was still seen in Revdi Bazar area which was apparently calm, with no incidents of violence.

In spite of Meghaninagar PI KG Erda desperately seeking additional deployment at Gulberg around 2.30 p.m. MK Tandon leaves the Revdi Bazar area only after he was ordered to do so by City Police Commissioner, PC Pande around 3 p.m. Ironically, Revdi Bazar where Tandon appears to have sought asylum falls under the jurisdiction of his counterpart  Shivanand Jha who during those crucial minutes was in the comfort of his own office at Shahibaug.

DCP Zone IV, P.B. Gondia
Not only did Tandon shy away from the engulfed and burning Gulberg society, even his deputy,DCP Zone IV, PB Gondia  inspite of being repeatedly informed by PCR (Police Control Room) about the attack on Gulberg Society stayed away from the worst affected areas and from attending to the helpless cries of residents. He preferred to stay at the Kuber Nagar area, 6 kilometres away.

Gondia arrives at the Gulberg Society a few minutes before 2 p.m. on that fateful day only to leave the place in less than one hour, leaving a free way of passage to the armed mob. Later
that afternoon Gondia moves to the Kalupur area which does not come under his jurisdiction.

The safety of the entire Meganinagar area during the most crucial periods of the day, from 11.30 a.m.-3.30 p.m. was left on PI KG Erda’s shoulders despite the fact that Erda had himself asked the PCR to inform his bosses about the gravity of the situation and also to ensure that senior officers remain physically present as things were beyond his control.

Today, KG Erda is an accused in the trial but P.B.Gondia, M.K. Tandon and P.C. Pande have escaped the in vestigator’s net.

Clearly evident is the fact that the top Gujarat officers turned a deaf ear and a blind eye to the pleas of victims under attack for reasons best known to them.

The entire Meghaninagar area was left unmanned by senior police personnel even when a residential society along with a neighbouring police chowkey were set afire leading to huge
casualties. Among the 69 persons maimed, massacred and burnt to ashes, were
former parliamentarian Shri Ahsan Jafri.
(Source: Phone Call Records Analysis Co-Related with PCR Records)

Credits: Sabrangindia https://sabrangindia.in/indepth/gulberg-massacre-tortuous-journey-justice?page=5