ITR 1 seemed to be the obvious choice. I also tried filling in the electronic ITR 1 form without salary detail. There was no error message when generating the xml. So obviously the salary fields need not necessary be filled. But the department may later raise an issue that just because a electronic form doesnt give an error, this is no reason to file the wrong form (An interesting debate can be rasied on this issue too).
I had already mentioned the table in the Incometax website was ambiguous. The reason I raised the question in the first place and which I mentioned in my query was:
a) Is it absolutely necessary that there should be salary income for one to use ITR 1? Please note the use of the words "income from salary/pension AND interest".
b) Why is ITR 2 not applicable?
Is the table mentioned above clear in this case or is it ambiguous? And before ayone raises it, I did write to ask @ incometaxgov.in about this. There is no reply. There was no response when i tried the the contact phone number.
The practical way is of course to file ITR 1 because its simpler. However there is a caveat from the IT Department that filing of a wrong form means that the return is not filed at all. (Though I seem to have aread a tribunal decision wherein the filing of a wrong form was requested to be condoned).