Guj riot: Zadafia not witness, Nanavati tells HC

Nanavati Commission told Guj HC it did not call former Gordhan Zadafia for questioning as a witness.

Ahmedabad: Nanavati Commission, which is probing the 2002 riots, on Tuesday told the Gujarat High Court that it did not call former Gujarat Minister Gordhan Zadafia for questioning as a witness.

The Commission today gave a letter in a sealed cover to the division bench of Chief Justice S J Mukhopadhaya and Justice Akil Kureshi, hearing a petition by Jan Sangharsh Manch (JSM), an NGO representing some of the 2002 riot victims.

The court after reading the letter said that the Commission had not called Zadafia as a witness nor it intended to gather evidence from him.

It had called Zadafia under section 4 of the Commission of Inquiry Act, which is to question somebody for gathering information about an incident.
The court further said that according to the Commission, Zadafia was called for questioning as he was the Minister for Home at the time of the Godhra train burning incident and during the riots that followed in the state.

Commission had further said that statement of Zadafia was not final and the former minister could be called again for questioning. Court has posted further hearing in matter for January 24, 2011.
The Court on December 15 had directed Advocate General Kamal Trivedi to get information from Commission that in what capacity it had questioned Zadafia.

PTI
Bangalore: The DRDO on Tuesday demonstrated its
indigenously designed and developed aerostat system capable of
carrying electro-optic and COMINT payloads for surveillance.
The electronic intelligence payload carried a communication
intelligence system for capturing and analyzing all types of
communications in air, DRDO said in a release here.
The system would be useful for three services, paramilitary
forces as well as have civilian applications including
disaster management, it said.

The system has been designed, developed and integrated by
Aerial Delivery Research & Development Establishment (ADRDE),
Agra Cantt, a premier laboratory under Defence Research &
Development Organisation (DRDO).

PTI

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