Produce letters ex-Prez wrote to Vajpayee: Godhra panel

Nanavati-Shah Commission, probing the Godhra carnage, on Tuesday rejected the privilege sought by Rashtrapati Bhavan and instructed that letters written by former President K R Narayanan to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in connection with the riots be produced before it.

The commission upheld an application filed by advocate Mukul Sinha in which he challenged the privilege sought by Rashtrapati Bhavan.

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Advocate Sinha said, "The commission has said that the President's office cannot seek privilege of the constitution."

He said this was the first time that a commission has issued such instructions to the Rashtrapati Bhavan and added that the President's office has 'the right to appeal against this in a court if they wish.'

The Rashtrapati Bhavan had previously refused to send the documents to the commission on the grounds of privilege but had acknowledged that the former President had spoken to media about the letters written to Vajpayee.

Narayanan, in an interview to Congress legislator from Kerala P T Thomas, said he had written to Vajpayee when the riots broke out and had told him to send in the army at the earliest.

He said in the interview that he did not get any reply from Vajpayee and that his requests went unheeded.