New Delhi: A day after Supreme
Court-appointed SIT gave a clean chit to Gujarat CM Narendra Modi in the post-Godhra Gulberg massacre case, BJP on Wednesday said
"unsuccessful attempts" were made to drag in political leaders
in the case by "concocting" certain facts.
Commenting on the report of the Special Investigation
Team, senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley said there was no reason
to celebrate the findings of the panel as complaints were made
against politicians with a political intention though there
was no evidence against them.
"This was an unsuccessful attempt to drag in political
names. I am sure this attempt has succeeded in terms of
propaganda in media. In terms of legal evidence, there is
none. Therefore this effort is not likely to succeed," he said
replying to a question on the issue.
"The matter is now before court. There is no question of
celebrating (the clean chit to Modi). There is no question of
condemning," he said.
A court in Ahmedabad yesterday in its order said that the
SIT has not found any evidence against Modi and 57 others
against whom Zakia Jafri, widow of former Congress MP Ehsan
Jafri, had filed complaint alleging their involvement in
criminal conspiracy in the 2002 riots. Ehsan Jafri was among
69 persons killed in the Gulberg society carnage.
Noting that Supreme Court complimented the SIT for its
probe into the riots, Jaitley said the charge sheet filed by
the SIT in the case did not figure names of political leaders
but complaints were filed at a later stage against politicians
as a "political after thought".
"After the charge sheet had proceeded and the Supreme
Court complimented the SIT for its effective work as a
political after thought, a second complaint is made which is
completely dominated by a political intention with political
leaders brought in. Obviously, there was no evidence of their
involvement in the case," Jaitley said.
Claiming that certain facts were "concocted" to frame
politicians in the case, he said the probe by the SIT into the
case was a professional and independent investigation.
"We believe certain facts were concocted and the SIT has
rightly believed them to be fabricated and concocted," the
BJP leader said.
Zakia had filed a complaint against Modi, his ministerial
colleagues, top police officials and BJP functionaries
accusing them of wider conspiracy in the riots in which more
than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, had been killed.
The apex court had ordered an inquiry into the complaint
filed by her and appointed the SIT headed by R K Raghavan to
probe it. The SIT now has sought closure of the case, the
Ahmedabad court said.
Reacting to the SIT`s closure report, Zakia said she was
"pained" and vowed to continue her battle for justice while
BJP said the 2002 riots cannot be used as a "bogey" to sustain
the campaign against Modi.
PTI
