SIT reluctant to part with Gujarat riots report

The suspense continued over chief minister Narendra Modi’s involvement in the 2002 riots as a local court on Monday reserved till Wednesday its order on a plea seeking access to the Supreme Court-appointed special investigation team’s report.

During the hearing in the court of metropolitan magistrate MS Bhatt, the Supreme Court-appointed SIT opposed the applications by Teesta Seetalvad and other activists, saying some of them had no locus standi to be given a copy of the report.

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 Modi 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.
SIT lawyer RS Jambuar said only after the court decides to close the complaint holding that there is no evidence, the copies could be given to the “original complainant” (Zakia), as per the Supreme Court’s order.