Probe larger conspiracy says Zakia Jafri's counsel

Ever since the Supreme Court started supervising the Best Bakery case, it had clearly told the investigating agency to probe the larger conspiracy behind the riots, said Zakia Jafri’s advocate Sanjay Parikh. He was commencing argument during the hearing of Jafri’s protest petition against the closure report of the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Wednesday.

Parikh strongly condemned the SIT’s argument that though the latter had been told by the SC to investigate only the Gulbarg housing society massacre, it had investigated other riot-related cases in addition and without compulsion.

Citing the SC order, he said the apex court had clearly told the SIT to look into the nine cases of riots in Gujarat. Parikh further stated that when Jafri filed her petition on June 8, 2006, the SC had passed an order, categorically telling the SIT that it would also have to probe allegations against chief minister Narendra Modi and 61 others in addition to the nine trials it was already investigating.
Parikh argued for around two hours before magistrate B J Ganatra and discussed the SC orders as well.

The SIT had earlier opposed Jafri’s protest petition filed by her against the closure report of the SIT. She had filed the protest petition in the Ahmedabad Metropolitan court on April 15, 2013, challenging the SIT’s clean chit to Modi and 61 others on their alleged role in the Gulbarg society riot case. Parikh argued that according to orders passed by the SC, the SIT shall investigate Jafri’s complaint instead of restricting the probe to the Gulbarg massacre only.

SIT counsel R S Jamuar had earlier told the court that the petition was nothing but a piece of wastepaper. Claiming that it was drafted by a few people, Jafri had no knowledge of its contents and that the entire petition was nothing but full of charges cooked up against the CM, Jamuar had told the court.