The Special Investigation Team (SIT) appointed by the Supreme Court to enquire into the Gulbarg society case that was part of the Gujarat riots will be in a position to give its report, on or before 30 April, SIT chief RK Raghavan said today.
Earlier, a marathon 9-hour long questioning session of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi concluded at 1.00 PM with Modi saying: "I have been told by SIT that your work is over",The CM said he had answered all questions put by the SIT and that he had recalled to the extent possible the sequence of events that had taken place eight years ago. The Chief Minister said his statement was recorded by the SIT investigators after which he signed it.Though there was no official word on the questioning, Modi is said to have replied to 62 of the 68 questions put to him in the five-hour-long first session that had begun at noon yesterday.
The SIT is enquiring into Modi’s role in a mob attack on a housing society in which a former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri and 68 others were killed. He was questioned by a team of officers headed by A K Malhotra, a former CBI DIG. When pointed out that he had been in the dock for the last eight years over the riots, a smiling Modi said, "You have still kept me in the dock."
"Vistaar se batcheet ki (we spoke in detail)," he said, adding, "Under the Indian Constitution, the law is supreme. As a common man, CM, I am bound by the Indian Constitution and the law. No one can be above the law."
SIT Chief R K Raghavan was not present in his office when Modi appeared in the first session in response to the panel's summons. "This was the first time in eight years that someone wanted to speak to me on the issue and I attended that", Modi said.Taking a dig at his critics, he said, "God give good sense to those who said I have not spoken for eight years”. Asked if the questions put to him related to Gulburg Society riot case, Modi said, "Questions ranged from February 27 (2002) till the elections".On number of questions asked by SIT, he said, "I have not counted them".
Asked if he was satisfied with the SIT investigations, Modi said, "The Supreme Court has to be satisfied."The Chief Minister repeatedly said the SIT was appointed by the apex court and it did not have a single officer from Gujarat.
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Modi has become the first chief minister of any state to be questioned in connection with a criminal complaint of mass murder after he and his administration were accused of aiding and abetting riots in one area in Ahmedabad in 2002. He was summoned for questioning following a complaint of Zakia Jafry, widow of Eshan Jafry.
The complaint filed by Jafry among other things, alleged there was a wider conspiracy by Modi and his administration and that he had instructed officers not to take action.
Speaking to some reporters, the SIT head, RK Raghavan said The questioning of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in connection with the Gulbarg riots post-Godhra is a "very big step forward" in trying to understand and unravel the mysteries in the case.
Raghavan said that the petition of Zakia Jafri, wife of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri who was killed along with 68 others in the Gulbarg Housing Society riots in 2002, was the SIT's "bible" and questions broadly related to it.
"I have greatest concern for the victims and I have never failed to take my eye away from justice. I am conscious of the sacred trust given by the Supreme Court," the SIT chief said.
Raghavan said broadly, he and Malhotra had discussed the questions to be put to Modi but he has not yet discussed the answers with him. "He (Malhotra) looks fresh and relaxed. I have not spoken to him (about the answers)."
Asked why he did not question Modi, Raghavan said as the chief of SIT, he does not meet the witnesses or the accused and it is a job done by the investigating officer or the inquiry officer.
"It is a good old practice that is followed by CBI...The director never does the examination. I have brought in this practice here. It’s a fair and healthy practice," he said.
On whether he was under any political pressure, Raghavan said, "Do I look like a man under pressure? I am relaxed. (I was under) absolutely no pressure. I am doing my duty."
He also declined comment on a question whether an FIR would be registered on the basis of questioning of the Chief Minister on Jafry's petition