In March, Modi was questioned for eight hours by the court-appointed SIT to find out whether his administration had a hand in Congress MP Ehsan Jafri’s assassination.
The Supreme Court has asked the special investigation team (SIT) probing the 2002 post-Godhra riots not to disclose Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s statement to anybody except the trial court.
In March, Modi was questioned for eight hours by the court-appointed SIT to find out whether his administration had a hand in Congress MP Ehsan Jafri’s assassination. Jafri was burnt alive at his Gulbarga Society residence in Ahmedabad. Even though his wife Zakia made several calls to the police seeking help, nobody responded.
Zakia moved the apex court in 2006, accusing Modi and 60 bureaucrats, police officers and senior ministers of conspiring to kill Jafri. During the hearing, SIT submitted a report in sealed cover to the court on Jafri’s murder.
A bench of justices DK Jain, P Sathasivam and Aftab Alam directed that a copy of the report be handed over to lawyer Prashant Bhushan, who was assisting the court, with a mandate that its contents shouldn’t be revealed to anybody except the trial court. Bhushan felt that more people need to be investigated, which he would indicate to the court at the next hearing on September 30.
The court also asked SIT not to share the report with the Nanavati Commission, which has already given a clean chit to Modi in its interim report.
Though Gujarat’s additional advocate general Tushar Mehta sought change of amicus curaie Bhushan, the judges said they have “confidence in him [Bhushan]”. Mehta had expressed lack of confidence in Bhushan because of his “pre-conceived views” on the incidents in Gujarat.
The court also insulated the SIT special prosecutor conducting the trials from any interference. It had been alleged that social activist Teesta Setalvad had tried to get information from the prosecutor.
The judges also issued notice to the Maharashtra government on SIT’s plea that the state had refused to release one of its IPS officers, Dr K Venketash, for reconstituting the SIT.
Salve said nobody should be allowed to interfere in the SIT’s composition. Salve said the moment court issues a notice, the state government would fall in line. The SIT is also inducting in its team YC Modi, an IPS officer from Assam.
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