SIT overlooked how Modi govt destroyed records, says Zakia's Lawyer

Ahmedabad,: The Supreme Court-appointed SIT overlooked the Narendra Modi government’s acts of tampering and destructing sensitive records related to the 2002 riots, Godhra riot victim Zakia Jafri told a court here today. “The SIT totally overlooked as well as ignored the tempering and destruction of 2002 post-Godhra riot-related sensitive records and documents by the Gujarat government which would have established our accusations of conspiracy, aiding and abetment of riots by the accused,” Jafri’s advocate Mihir Desai said. Desai was arguing before Metropolitan Magistrate B J Ganatra on behalf of Jafri who has filed a petition protesting the SIT closure report giving a clean chit to Modi and others for their alleged role in the 2002 post-Godhra riots. In her petition, Jafri sought rejection of the SIT’s closure report and filing of a charge sheet against Modi and others. Today Desai submitted before the court some relevant material collected by SIT during its investigation. [caption id=“attachment_1065101” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Zakia Jafri in this file photo. AFP[/caption] Citing records of facsimiles, telex and wireless messages, Desai said, “There were clear signs of many documents missing or being tempered with, but still the SIT did not probe it. “The SIT has collected the inward register of fax at the Chief Minister’s office, but not the outward register. Even in the inward register, many entries have corrections. But the SIT has not even probed it.” About destruction of records, Desai questioned the event’s timing and said, “The government has destroyed many relevant records four days after the Supreme Court appointed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) for Gujarat riots, but the SIT has not even bothered to investigate why within four days of its formation, records were destroyed”. “The government claimed that all records were destroyed in 2008 as per rule 265 of the Bombay Police Manual, though the Bombay Police Manual was replaced by the Gujarat Police Manual and there is no such provision for destruction of state records in the Gujarat Police Manual,” Desai said. During his arguments today, Desai mentioned the cases of 10 IPS officers of Gujarat, including R B Sreekumar, Sanjeev Bhatt, Rahul Sharma, Anupamsingh Gehlot, Vivek Srivastava, M D Antani, Satish Verma, Nirjara Gortu and Jaswindersingh Rana. “All these officers who performed their constitutional duty and effectively controlled riots in their respective areas, were later punished by the Gujarat government, while officers like P C Pande, Shivanand Jha, P B Gondia, M K Tandon and others who supported the Gujarat government’s conspiracy were rewarded,” he said. “Three of these officers, Rahul Sharma, R B Sreekumar and Sanjeev Bhatt has given so much evidence corroborating our accusations and there is a clear case for a charge sheet on the basis of material provided by them,” Desai said. Concluding today’s argument, Desai said that, “Going through submissions made by us, a clear case for filing a charge sheet against the accused has been made out and the SIT’s closure report should be rejected by this court”. Further hearing will continue on August 29. PTI