Wednesday, May 4 2005 16:45 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Ahmedabad: The Godhra inquiry commission today (May 4, 2005) rejected the application seeking to summon former President K R Narayanan saying that there was no need to summon him in connection with the statement he made to the media about communal riots in Gujarat.

The Nanavati-Shah Commission rejected the application filed by advocate Mukul Sinha and instead said that the letters written by Narayanan to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee could be sent across to the commission.

Narayanan had said in his media interview that he had written several letters to Vajpayee urging him to take prompt action during the post-Godhra riots and also suggested the deployment of Army.

Narayanan said he had asked Vajpayee, to deploy Army in Gujarat to control the communal riots and to give them powers to open fire at rioters.

Earlier, the Commission had sent a letter to the former President asking whether he would like to appear before the Commission and give his opinion on the riots.

Narayanan in reply, sent an acknowledgment to the Commission through a letter dated April 8, 2005 wherein he had admitted of having made such statements to the media, but did not specify if he would appear before the Commission.

The Commission also put aside advocate Sinha's application to summon Vajpayee on the grounds that it would first await the copy of the letters that Narayanan had written to him and decide on the fate of the application on June 2.