Ahmedabad: The Supreme Court-appointed
Special Investigation Team (SIT) today recorded the statement
of former Gujarat Minister Maya Kodnani, an accused in a 2002
post-Godhra riot case.
The statement was recorded on a complaint filed by Zakia,
whose husband Ehsan Jaffery, a former Congress MP was killed
along with 69 others in a riot at Gulburg Society here, SIT
officials said.
The Supreme Court on April 27 last year had asked the SIT
to inquire into Zakia`s complaint where she has alleged that
Chief Minister Narendra Modi and 62 others -- including his
cabinet colleagues, police officials and senior bureaucrats --
aided and abetted the communal riots over eight years ago.
Kodnani, an accused in the Naroda Gam and Naroda Patiya
riot case, where 106 persons were killed, is among 62 persons
named in the complaint.
Kodnani, who resigned from the Modi Cabinet in March last
year, was interrogated for nearly one and half hours, the
officials said, adding that some others named in Zakia`s
complaint would be summoned in the coming days.
Last week, the Apex court had allowed the SIT, probing
nearly a dozen riot cases, to quiz Gordhan Zadafia (former
Minister of State for Home), M K Tandon (an ex-top police
officer) and two others named in the probe team`s report.
The court has permitted the SIT to carry out further
investigation into the cases, including the killing of
Jaffery, in which Modi has been questioned for his alleged
role.
The SIT, headed by former CBI Director R K Raghavan, had
interrogated Modi for over nine hours on March 27 this year.
The probe team has already recorded statements of several
persons named in Zakia`s complaint. These include Zadafia, BJP
leader I K Jadeja, former BJP legislator Kalu Malivad, sitting
MLA Anil Patel, ex-IPS officer R B Sreekumar, social activist
Teesta Setalvad and IG Shivanand Jha.
PTI
