Ahmedabad: Gujarat Chief Minister
Narendra Modi is likely to skip appearance tomorrow before the
Special Investigation Team probing a post-Godhra riots case,
sources in the state government said Saturday.
SIT had summoned Modi to remain present before him
tomorrow in connection with the complaint of Jakia Jaffery,
wife of slain former MP Eshan Jaffery, in the Gulburg society
riot case.
The SIT has not received any communication from the
chief minister till this evening.
"There is no response from Modi as yet," SIT chief R K
Raghavan told PTI.
The Supreme Court had on April 27 last year asked the
SIT to inquire into Zakia's complaint where she alleged Modi
and 62 others, including his cabinet colleagues, police
officials and senior bureaucrats aided and abetted the riots
which left over 1,000 people dead.
The former MP was killed along with 69 others by a
mob at Gulburg society in February 2002.
Zakia approached the apex court after the Gujarat High
Court refused on November 3, 2007 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 to protect the
life and property of innocents.
Zakia today said from Surat that when everybody is
waiting for the questioning of Modi, he should appear before
the probe panel.
Congress general secretary and state in-charge P Sudhakar
Reddy said "Modi, when elected back to power in 2007, had said
that he was not a chief minister but a common man. He should
depose before SIT when a summons is issued in his name and
prove that he is a common man".
SIT had to face legal hurdles while probing Zakia's
complaint when in July last year former BJP MLA Kalu Malivad
(one of the 63 people named in the complaint) approached the
Gujarat High Court seeking a stay on investigations by SIT
with regard to Zakia Jaffery.
The High Court had dismissed the petition saying as SIT
is directly working under the supervision of the Supreme Court
no relief can be granted in this matter.
Malivad then approached the apex court challenging the
High Court verdict.
In connection with Zakia's complaint, SIT has already
recorded statements of a number of persons named in her
complaint which include former minister of state for Home
Gordhan Zadafia, BJP leader I K Jadeja, former BJP MLA from
Lunawada Kalu Malivad and sitting MLA from Mehsana Anil Patel,
former IPS officer R B Sreekumar, social activist Teesta
Setalvad, IG Shivanand Jha, some other senior police officers
and political leaders.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, March 21, 2010, 00:41