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'Modi's decision to bring bodies back to A'bad from Godhra instigated riots’

Alleges Gujarat Congress president Arjun Modhwadia in his letter addressed to SIT chairman RK Raghavan, released to press on Tuesday.

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Reports that the Special Investigation Team is planning to file a closure report in the Gulbarg Society massacre case complaint filed by Zakia Jafri seems to be creating a furor of sorts. Gujarat Congress president Arjun Modhwadia on Tuesday afternoon released a letter addressed to SIT chairman RK Raghavan pointing out several instances of direct culpability of CM Narendra Modi in abetting communal riots in February 2002.

The main issue he has raised to drive home the point of CM’s culpability is that the decision to bring the bodies back to Ahmedabad from Godhra is what instigated the riots and this decision was taken by Modi. “As per regulation any dead body involved in crime or accident should be handed over only to the next of kin as per the hierarchy of relationship viz. wife/husband, mother/father, brother, other relatives and so on. But, violating those specific directions in Revenue and Police Manual, the CM had ordered for handing over the bodies to the VHP State leader Jaideep Patel,” Modhwadia’s letter states.

He further cites the statements of PC Pandey, the then commissioner of police of Ahmedabad city before Nanavati Commission in August 2004 stating, “…I had not taken the decision of bringing the dead bodies to Ahmedabad. As I believe that the decision might have taken at the top level in the Government and it was not necessary for me to interfere in that decision…”

He stresses in the letter that the very decision to transporting the bodies 200 km from Godhra to Ahmedabad, when most of the deceased were not even residents of the city, was in complete violation of the law and Hindu tradition of cremating the dead at the earliest.

Modhwadia made an emotional appeal to ex-CBI director Raghavan on humanitarian grounds, as a police officer and even as God-fearing Hindu to question the wisdom of disregarding such brazen violation of religious norms, law and human decency of parading dead bodies for political mileage.

“I do not know how you can avoid taking cognizance about facts and evidence of the charge of CM Modi and all those government officials, who intentionally violated structural statutory stipulation about handing of dead bodies involved in crime/accident and made these mere exhibition materials for aggravating communal frenzy in Ahmedabad city. Those responsible for all these acts of commission and omission are liable to be charged under section 166, 186, 187 of IPC read with section 120-B of IPC. Your action of exonerating Mr. Narendra Modi and his supporters from culpability of such heinous crime will make Indian Criminal Justice system, a butt of ridicule, in the eyes of whole world,” Modhwadia wrote.

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