The content of the RK Raghavan-led Special Investigation Team (SIT) report submitted to a local court on Wednesday is still ‘officially’ unknown. However, sources say the SC-appointed SIT that was looking into a complaint made by Zakia Jafri, widow of slain Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, against Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and 62 others, most likely gives Modi a clean chit.
SIT sources claim that the report says that no substantive evidence has been found against any of the 63 people Zakia Jafri has named in her complaint. Sixty-seven people, including Ehsan Jafri, were killed in the Gulbarg Society attack during the 2002 riots. Sources say the report has concluded that the Modi government decision to bring the bodies of 59 Kar Sevaks who died in the Sabarmati Express fire to Ahmedabad was not improper as they needed to be identified and handed over to relatives.
Moreover, most victims belonged to Ahmedabad or North Gujarat. Critics have said this move served to inflame communal sentiments.
According to sources familiar with the contents of the report, Zakia Jafri had no first hand information regarding who played what role during the riots. Besides Modi, Zakia also named the top brass of the Gujarat police and bureaucracy in her complaint. The source said she also included officers posted in districts outside Ahmedabad in her complaint which is why it could not be sustained during the probe.
The SIT has reportedly also not relied on statements given by suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt. Sources say the reason for this is that the first time he was approached, Bhatt did not divulge information about the alleged controversial meeting at Modi’s residence on the night of February 27, 2002. However, he later claimed that Modi instructed police officers to let Hindus vent their anger at that meeting.
The SIT has reportedly also not been able to find evidence to substantiate Zakia’s claim against the then health minister, the late Ashok Bhatt, who sat at the Ahmedabad police control room, as well as the then urban development minister, IK Jadeja, who sat at the DGP’s office in Gandhinagar, during the riots. Zakia alleged the duo monitored police movement from these two points of citizen contact to ensure police did not reach the riot areas to control violence.
