Ahmedabad: SIT chief RK Raghavan had found lapses on the part of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in his preliminary inquiry report into the 2002 riots case submitted two years, but gave him a clean chit saying there was not sufficient ground for any action under the law.
Raghavan's comments on the preliminary inquiry report of the SIT were submitted in the Supreme Court in May, 2010, which mentioned that in an interview given by Modi to a television channel on criminal conspiracy of people of Godhra, his remarks were "sweeping" and "offensive."
Raghavan had also doubted Modi on the presence of two of his then ministers, IK Jadeja and Ashok Bhatt in state and city police control rooms and on Modi visiting Godhra on the same day of train burning incident but taking 5-6 days to go to the riot-hit areas.
He also found that the allegations on appointment of public prosecutors "politically connected, either to the ruling party or organisations sympathetic to it" in the riots cases and that Modi did not issue orders against the bandh call by Hindu organisations (VHP) on February 28, 2002 were true.
However, in the final report submitted before a local court on February eight this year, Raghavan's SIT not only exonerated Modi of all the charges, but said that he did his job of controlling the riots well.
Raghavan's comments in the 2010 report were made available for public by NGO - Citizen for Justice and Peace, which got them from complainant Zakia Jaffery, wife of former Congress MP Ehsaan Jaffery who was killed in the 2002 riots.
The SIT chief has observed in the report that, "his (Modi's) statement accusing some elements in Godhra as possessing a criminal tendency was sweeping and offensive, coming as it was from a chief minister and that too at a critical time when Hindu and Muslim tempers were running high."
"But taking an overall view of this statement and his subsequent appeals for peace, it is difficult to opine that Shri Modi's intention was to provoke Hindu feelings against the Muslim community," Raghavan had said in the report prepared by investigation officer in the case AK Malhotra.
Raghavan appreciated the job done by inquiry officer Malhotra who, in the primary investigation report, had said that eight allegations are substantiated against Gujarat administration and Modi.
Raghavan said he recommended departmental inquiry against some police officers, but went on to say that "the other substantiated allegations did not throw material that would justify further action under the law."
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