Gandhinagar, April 25 (IANS) Suspended Gujarat official Pradeep Sharma has written to the apex court appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT), probing the 2002 riots, requesting to be allowed to depose on information received from the chief minister's office during the period.

 
 In a letter to SIT chief R.K. Raghavan, Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Sharma contended that he had been called up by the chief minister's office and asked to tell his brother Kuldip Sharma, an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, "that he should abstain from taking any proactive measures in favour of minorities".
 
 Pradeep Sharma, who is at present behind the bars for his involvement in an alleged land scam case, was posted as a municipal commissioner in 2002 while his brother Kuldip Sharma was the Inspector General of Ahmedabad Range.
 
 In his letter, he requested that he be allowed to depose before the SIT where he could reveal "the exact nature of the conversation and the name of the officer who had made the call".
 
 Now an additional director general of police officer on central deputation, Kuldip Sharma had approached the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) after his annual confidential reports (ACRs) for four years were downgraded in one day. The CAT upgraded the ACRs while taking the government to task for victimising him.