Court to hear SIT report on 2002 Gujarat riots case

A local court will on Monday hear the closure report filed by the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT), which has reportedly given a clean chit to Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi among others for their role in 2002 post-Godhra riots.

The court of Metropolitan Magistrate MS Bhatt will also hear the petitions filed by social activists Teesta Setalvad and Mukul Sinha seeking copies of the report filed in a sealed cover before it on Wednesday.

The SIT has reportedly observed that it did not have "prosecutable evidence" against Modi and 57 others. Earlier, the apex court had asked the SIT to investigate whether there was a larger conspiracy behind the 2002 riots in which more than 1,200 people were killed.

A complaint in this regard was filed by Setalvad and Zakia Jaffery, widow of former Congress MP Ehsaan Jaffrey, in the infamous Gulburg Society case where 69 people were killed during the communal frenzy in 2002.

SIT after questioning many people, including Modi, had filed a report in the Supreme Court in which it had reportedly said that there was no prosecutable evidence against the chief minister. The apex court had then asked amicus curie Raju Ramchandran to independently assess the SIT report.