Sanjiv Bhatt, PUCL ask Nanavati to summon Narendra Modi

Suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt and civil rights organization, People’s Union for Civil liberties (PUCL), on Thursday filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking summoning of chief minister Narendra Modi before the Nanavati riot panel.

The petitioners also sought court intervention in the matter of placing the panel’s final report before the state governor and not the chief minister. They also sought summoning of Modi due to various reasons including extra judicial confession of Babu Bajarangi, convict of the Naroda Patia case, during Operation Kalank, a sting operation conducted by Tehelka. After primary hearing of the case, a bench comprising chief justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and justice JB Pardiwala adjourned hearing till October 5.

In the sting operation Bajrangi had reportedly told that Modi was instrumental in getting him to escape the clutches of Gujarat police. It is pertinent to note that the Nanavati and Mehta commission, which is probing 2002 post-Godhra communal riots, had rejected pleas moved by Jan Sangharsh Manch, Sanjiv Bhatt and others demanding chief minister Narendra Modi to be summoned before the commission.

“The submission of the final report by the Commission without inquiring calling and examining Narendra Modi and that too in the hands of the person who is sought to be inquired into will be a gross violation of the principles of natural justice,” the PIL states. It further asks the commission to direct the government to preserve all records at the time of 2002 communal riots.