Contrary to the Uttar Pradesh government’s claim, former officer on special duty (OSD) in the Home Department Subhash Bhan Sadh who was supposedly carrying the 23 “missing” files pertaining to the Ayodhya dispute when he died after an “accident” in Delhi in 2000, was not expected to appear before the Liberhan Commission.

The secretary to the Liberhan Commission had told the Delhi Police, which investigated Subhash’s death, that no summons were issued to him to attend the commission’s proceedings or appear before it on May 1, 2000.

However, the Uttar Pradesh government told the Delhi Police that Sadh was sent to appear before the Liberhan Commission on May 1 and 2 on behalf of the government, but he carried photocopies, not original files.

In fact, the commission had not asked for any files, said K B Aggarwal, the then special secretary (home) in the UP government, in a communication to the Delhi Police on July 6, 2000. Also, there were no orders to carry any files to Delhi, Aggarwal said.

The letters from the Liberhan Commission and the state government are quoted in an affidavit which T N Mohan, the then deputy commissioner in the Delhi Police Headquarters, filed in the Delhi High Court in response to a petition of Subhash’s father Bir Bhan Sadh, seeking an impartial inquiry into his son’s death.

According to Mohan’s affidavit, the search memo of Subhash after the accident showed recovery of “some papers, including visiting cards, slips, tickets etc. No file/documents were seized or taken or found from the spot or at the hospital. No file in original or its photostat was recovered by the PCR staff, medical doctors or Sub-Inspector S L Meena” who was the first to visit the spot of the accident.

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