Saturday, April 30 2005 11:19 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Centre yesterday (Apr 29, 2005) contemplated ordering an independent probe into the veracity of diary entries of a senior Gujarat police official who claimed they contained instructions allegedly by Chief Minister Narendra Modi to "eliminate" minorities during post-Godhra riots.

"Home Minister Shivraj Patil and Law Minister H R Bharadwaj today discussed the issues arising out of filing of the diary by Additional DGP R B Sreekumar along with his petition before the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT)," official sources said yesterday.

Sreekumar had moved the CAT challenging his suppression alleging he was not considered for the top post as he did not toe the government line while deposing before the judicial inquiry commission inquiring into post-Godhra riots.

The meeting between Patil and Bharadwaj veered around the idea of referring the "contents of the diary" to an agency like CBI for further probe to examine the veracity of the entries made therein, they added.

The 207-page diary purportedly has the conversations between him and Government officials and the DGP said, "Each page of the diary has the signature and official seal of the then Inspector General of Police (Administration) O P Mathur.

The Gujarat Government claimed Sreekumar was not promoted in February 2005 owing to a departmental inquiry pending against him in connection with the ISRO spying case that was probed by Kerala police in 1999.