Narendra Modi summoned by SIT in Ehsan Jaffrey murder case

File photo of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) appointed by the Supreme Court to inquire into the Ehsan Jaffrey murder case, that was part of the 2002 post-Godhra communal violence in Gujarat, today summoned state Chief Minister Narendra Modi to appear before it for questioning on March 21.

The inquiry followed a petition filed by Ms Zakia Jaffrey, widow of Ehsan Jaffrey, a former Congress member of Parliament, who was burnt alive during what has come to be known as the Gulbarg Society massacre on February 28, 2002. In all, 69 people had died in the incident.

According to sources, the questioning of Mr Modi will conclude the inquiry. Several witnesses have already been questioned and the SIT has also collected a lot of evidence in this regard.

Mr R K Raghavan, a former Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), who heads the SIT, told television channels that the summons was in pursuance of the petition filed by Ms Jaffrey.

"We are calling him mainly on that and March 21 is the date that we have asked him to appear before the court," he said.

"We have summoned the Chief Minister and we will be asking a few questions based on the evidence collected till now," he said. "Nothing more than this."

The SIT is required to submit its report to the Supreme Court by April 30. The petition filed by Ms Jaffrey accuses Mr Modi and others, including some of his cabinet colleagues, of conspiracy in the violence at Gulbarg Society, a housing colony in Ahmedabad where Mr Jaffrey used to live.

Among other things, they are accused of instructing policemen and officials to not respond to the frantic pleas for help from Mr Jaffrey and others after a mob attacked the residential area, trapping them inside.

"The petition made several allegations that several people conspired, created problems on that day. And we examined several witnesses...we are coming almost to the end of the inquiry. So, we naturally have to ask Mr Modi as to 'what you think of all the information we have gathered.' Then we will report to the Supreme Court," Mr Raghavan told NDTV.

Ms Jaffrey told television channels that she was happy that Mr Modi had been summoned by the SIT. "I hope that justice will be given to us. It has been a long journey," she said.

Reacting to the SIT move, the Congress said that it would be appropriate if Mr Modi stepped down from office.

Pointing out that it was, perhaps, the first time that a sitting Chief Minister had been summoned in a case of mass murder, Congress spokesman Manish Tiwari said it would be appropriate that Mr Modi resigned from his constitutional post.

The Gulbarg Society incident was part of the state-wide communal violence in Gujarat that followed the Godhra train fire on February 27, 2002, in which 58 people, many of them "kar sevaks", were killed. More than 1000 people died in the violence that followed in Ahmedabad and other parts of Gujarat in the subsequent days.

In Ahmedabad, the official spokesperson for the Gujarat Government and the State Health Minister, Mr Jaynarayan Vyas, said, "The Gujarat Government and the Chief Minister will, as usual, always cooperate with the process of law."

NNN