Modi gets clean chit in riot case

SC had ordered an inquiry into the role of the CM

Gujarat government Advocate Mukul Rohatgi told reporters on the apex court premises that  “Mr Modi has no role in the riots. It was unfortunate that riots happened. The riots were unfortunate but to allege that the chief minister was engineering them or was negligent...is a falsehood,” he said.

“The state government had cooperated with the SIT in probing the issue,” he said while clarifying the stance of the Gujarat government. 

 The Supreme Court had ordered an inquiry into the role played by Modi during the anti-Muslim riots in 2002, the first official investigation into his conduct during violence that left over a thousand people dead in the state.

Jakia Nasim Ahsan, the wife of slain former Congress MP Ahsan Jafri, alleged that Modi and 63 others had instigated the mob to fuel the riots.

The SIT is headed by former CBI director R K Raghavan, and was appointed by the apex court in 2008 to probe the riots following the deaths of 58 people, including those who had visited Ayodhya.

Jafri and others in his neighbourhood were killed by a mob in February 2002, despite assurances from senior police officials in the state that they would be saved.

Arun Jaitley, leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and MP from Gujarat, said: “This issue is in court. We are not aware of what the SIT has said. So we will not be able to make a detailed comment. But if there’s such an outcome then it will be the truth which will vindicate our stand.”

BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain said the “party has taken the stand to cooperate with law. People may have been conspiring against the BJP, but we believe in law.”
The SIT had summoned Modi a few months ago and had grilled him on the issue. The court had on April 27, 2009, asked the SIT to inquire into Zakia's complaint.