Conflicting SIT, amicus curiae reports raise questions: Congress

Congress on Monday said the SIT's reported clean chit to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in post-Godhra riots and his indictment by the amicus curiae in the case raises some very serious issues.

The party hopes that the concerns of the amicus curiae would be taken on board by the SIT as they have presented a part of the report and asked for more time to present certain additional documents, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari told reporters in Delhi.

His comments came hours after the SIT opposed sharing with activists its final report on the probe into allegations of Modi's involvement in 2002 riots, as a court reserved till Wednesday its order on their plea seeking access to the crucial document.

SIT had submitted the report to the court in a sealed cover last week amid speculation that Modi may have got relief in the probe on Zakia Jafri's complaint against the Chief Minister and others on the 2002 post-Godhra riots. Zakia's husband Ehsan Jafri, a former Congress MP, was among the 69 people killed in post-Godhra Gulberg Housing society riots.

Tewari also pointed out the statement of former Gujarat Chief Minister Keshav Bhai Patel that his community was living under fear in Gujarat was "indicative of the state of affairs in the Modi-run state, which the BJP considers as its Hindutva laboratory.

The SIT has reportedly given a clean chit to Modi in the anti-Muslim riots citing absence of prosecutable evidence against him whereas amicus curiae Raju Ramchandran had recommended his prosecution in the case on various grounds.