Saturday, March 4 2006 20:20 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Ahmedabad: Gujarat government today (Mar 04 2006) sought "more time" to reply to a plea seeking a detailed probe into the two crucial Compact Discs (CDs) containing details of mobile telephone calls made during the post-Godhra riots in 2002 which could ascertain the "role of Gujarat police and ministers of the Narendra-Modi government."

The two-member Nanavati-Shah panel probing the Sabarmati Express train carnage and the post-Godhra riots granted time and adjourned the hearing on the matter till March 13.

This is the second consecutive time that the Gujarat government has sought more time.

On February 18, the Commission had asked the state government to file replies on or before March one, in connection with the plea filed on January 21 this year, by advocate Mukul Sinha, representing a section of the riot-affected families in the Commission, seeking "an official processing and analysis to the two CDs."

The two CDS were submitted to the Commission by CBI officer Rahul Sharma, who was the DSP of Bhavnagar district during the riots, during his cross-examiniation before the Commission in 2004.

The CDs contain phone numbers of calls made or received during the period from February 27, 2002 to March 7, 2002 in the city of Ahmedabad during the peak of communal riots.

According to Sinha, the contents of the CDs could throw light on whether politicians, leaders of religious organisations and Gujarat police officials were directly or indirectly involved in the communal riots.