Guj riots: Modi appears before Supreme Court-appointed SIT

Gandhinagar, Mar 27 (PTI) The Chief Minister of western
state of Gujarat Narendra Modi appeared before the Supreme
Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) on
Saturday and was
questioned for the first time for his role in the 2002
Gujarat riots that have come back to haunt him.
Ending the suspense as to where he would appear, the
59-year-old senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader drove
to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) office around noon at
the old state secretariat building here.
Modi suffered the ignominy of being the first-ever
chief minister of any state to be called for questioning in a
criminal complaint of mass murder after he and his
administration were accused of aiding and abetting riots in
one area in Ahmedabad.
SIT Chief R K Raghavan was not present at the SIT office
when Modi appeared. Another SIT member A K Malhotra is
believed to be questioning the chief minister.
Elaborate security arrangements were made at the SIT
office for the deposition of the chief minister where a large
crew of media persons had assembled since morning.
Clad in a crisp white kurta and pyjama, Modi greeted the
waiting media persons with folded hands after alighting from
his car before proceeding to the SIT building.
The SIT had summoned Modi to depose in connection with a
complaint of Zakia Jaffery, widow of former Congress MP Eshan
Jaffery, who was killed in Gulbarg society riots case of 2002
along with 69 others. The complaint also alleged that he had
instructed officers not to take action.
Social activist and a Modi baiter Teesta Setalvald
said,"Today is an important day for democracy and rule of law
when a sitting chief minister has been forced to appear before
an inquiry team after various attempts to block justice."
Gujarat Government Spokesman Jai Narayan Vyas dismissed
suggestions of a setback to Modi following his appearance
before SIT.
"We have always said that he will abide by rule of law
but much hype is being made. There is no setback as far as BJP
government or Modi is concerned. Mr Modi is cooperating," he
said.
Modi's appearance before SIT assumes significance as he
is a serving chief minister who is being questioned before any
authority in connection with the 2002 riots.
Saturday's event was preceded by drama after Modi
refused to appear on March 21 calling as false claim that the
SIT had fixed that day for questioning him in connection with
the 2002 riots.
The Supreme Court had on April 27 last year asked the SIT
to inquire into Zakia's complaint in which she has alleged
that Modi and 62 others, including his cabinet colleagues,
police officials and senior bureaucrats, aided and abetted the
post-Godhra riots in Gujarat.
Zakia approached the apex court after the Gujarat High
Court had on November 3, 2007 refused to give any direction
and asked her to seek redressal before the Magistrate's Court.
The wife of the slain Congress leader had alleged that
between February and May 2002 there was a "deliberate and
intentional failure" of the state government in protecting the
lives and property of innocent people.
SIT had to face legal hurdles while probing Zakia's
complaint when in July last year former BJP Member of
Legislative Assembly (MLA) Kalu Malivad (one of the 63 people
named in the complaint) approached the Gujarat High Court
demanding a stay on investigations by SIT with regard to Zakia
Jaffery.
The High Court had dismissed the petition saying as the
SIT is directly working under the supervision of the Supreme
Court, no relief can be granted in this matter.
Malivad has now approached the apex court challenging the
High Court verdict.
Inquiring into Zakia's complaint, SIT has already
recorded statements of a number of persons, including former
Minister of State for Home Gordhan Zadafia, BJP leader I K
Jadeja, former BJP MLA from Lunawada Kalu Malivad, sitting MLA
from Mehsana Anil Patel, ex-IPS officer R B Sreekumar, social
activist Teesta Setalvad, IG Shivanand Jha, some senior police
officers and political leaders. PTI PB/MPL
SKT