Gujarat DGP says mock drill firing was case of negligence

Gujarat Director General of Police S S Khandwavala today said the controversial case of a police officer opening fire at a colleague during a mock security drill at the Surat airport last month was not a deliberate act.

"There was nothing deliberate in the incident," he told reporters here, but hastened to add that it took place because of a serious case negligence on the parts of the officers involved in the exercise.

In the incident, an inspector of the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad, Shabbirali Saiyed, suffered serious injuries when he was hit by a bullet fired by Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Subhash Trivedi from his service revolver.

As per the plan for the drill, no officer was supposed to carry or use live arms and ammunition. Each person had an assigned role. Mr Saiyed was given the task of an observer whose job was to watch the exercise and take note of mistakes and other points during the operation. Mr Trivedi was one of those given the role of doctors who rush to a bus in the parking lot of the airport in which some other officers, acting as terrorists, were holding "passengers" hostage.

A media report had quoted Saiyed as shouting, "Sir don't..I am not a terrorist" to Mr Trivedi before he was hit by a bullet in the abdomen from close range.

Mr Khandwawala said, prima facie, it appeared that the incident was the result of negligence. But he stressed that a final conclusion could be drawn only after receipt of the report of the separate inquiries being conducted into the incident by the ATS and the Surat Police.

The state police chief admitted that, as per the ground rules of the drill, no police personnel were supposed to carry any live arms and ammunition.

He said Mr Trivedi was entrusted with the resposibility of ensuring that no police personnel carried loaded guns but he himself might have forgotten to unload his own service revolver.

He said that it was suprising that Mr Trivedi had opened fire when his role was of a doctor who had to negotiate with the terrorists with no scope to fire at any one.

In response to a question, the DGP said only one bullet was fired and not two as reported in a section of the press.

He said he had met Mr Saiyed on Friday and the inspector had no ill-feeling towards any officer. He also made it clear that he had not given a clean chit to Mr Trivedi, saying there would have been no inquiry if that had been the case.

NNN