AHMEDABAD: The Supreme Court-appointed special investigation team (SIT ) has found no evidence against chief minister Narendra Modi and 60 others to implicate them in the 2002 post-Godhra riots. On Gulbarg massacre witness Zakia Jafri's plea for a copy of the SIT report, metropolitan magistrate M S Bhatt said in his order on Tuesday that the probe agency had filed a "closure report against the accused persons" for lack of evidence. The magistrate has asked SIT to provide a copy of the report along with all documents to Zakia, widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri who was killed in the massacre, within 30 days.
The SC had asked SIT to probe Zakia's allegation that the Gulbarg Society massacre - in which 69 people were killed - was the result of a larger conspiracy. On September 12 last year, the Supreme Court had refrained from passing any order on Zakia's petition and had asked the trial court to decide on the case on the basis of the SIT's report.
Immediately after the Supreme Court order, Modi had Tweeted, "God is great," and announced the three-day Sadbhavana fast. On Tuesday Modi refrained from Tweeting.
SC's amicus curiae Raju Ramachandran has, however, disagreed with the SIT on certain aspects, like whether the evidence is enough to start prosecution. His findings have been annexed with the final report.
The 63 people that Zakia had named in her plea were virtually the who's who of Sangh Parivar and the government in 2002. Besides Modi, the list includes ministers, top VHP leaders like Praveen Togadia, the then police commissioners of Ahmedabadand Vadodara other top cops and MLAs. Former chief secretary, home secretary and legal secretary were also named.