Ahmedabad, July 25: Rashtrapati Bhavan has again refused to hand over then President K.R. Narayanan’s advisory on tackling the Gujarat riots to the panel probing the 2002 communal flare-up.

Narayanan had told a news magazine he had written a letter to then Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee to “rush the army to Gujarat to contain the communal riots and take effective steps” but his advice had gone unheeded.

In a message faxed to the Nanavati Shah Commission, the President’s secretariat today declined to part with the document, claiming “privilege”.

“The matter has been carefully considered. Having taken all facts into consideration, the President’s secretariat would like to abide by its earlier stand of claiming privilege under Section 123 and 124 of Indian Evidence Act 1872 as was communicated to you on 7th June, 2005, and that there is nothing further to add to it,” the message said.

This is the second time Rashtrapati Bhavan has refused to hand over the letter. When the matter was raised in June the first time by advocate Mukul Sinha, who represents the riot victims, it had declined on similar grounds.

Sinha had then cited a Supreme Court ruling to contest the claim. He said Rashtrapati Bhavan had “wrongly” interpreted the privilege law and that “the President has no such privilege”.

The matter will be debated before the panel on August 3. Sinha said it was important to know the content of the official communication between Narayanan and Vajpayee.

The commission also took note of key witness Zahira Sheikh’s absence to appear before it today. It said if Zahira continued to skip hearings, it would have to issue an arrest warrant. She has been asked to appear on August 3.