Since its birth in 2008,SIT saw many shake-ups

A few months into the probe,the panel brought in deputy SP Noel Parmar,who had probed the Godhra carnage since May 2002 and had floated the terror conspiracy theory while booking the accused under Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA). The SIT later dropped Parmar after relatives of the accused requested for his removal.

Then came another setback for the SIT in 2009 when Satpathy announced his “unwillingness” to work with the probe panel. The officer,who never cited any reasons for quitting the SIT at a time when the probe had picked pace,is now a spiritual leader who is associated with more than 250 Sai Baba temples in the country.

In May 2009,the SC reconstituted the SIT by inducting two new members — Paramvir Singh,a former additional director in CBI and A K Malhotra,a former DIG in CBI,to assist Raghavan.

Within the next few months,Paramvir too opted out to “to tend to his ailing mother”. The officer,who had met the victims of post-Godhra riots in distant villages,had recommended “necessary changes” in the witness protection programme designed by the SIT and the CJP,the NGO fighting for the riot victims. Paramvir exited soon after he recorded the statements of former DGP RB Sreekumar in 2009.

A few months later,Johri came under the Supreme Court scanner for her probe into the Sohrabuddin encounter killing while it turned out that Jha was an accused in the complaint filed by Zakia Jafri,the widow of former Congress MP Ahsan Jafri who was killed in the Gulberg Society rioting.

Following a petition by the CJP (Citizens for Peace and Justice),the SC in April 2010 ordered the removal of Johri and Jha from the SIT.

In July 2010,the probe panel was reconstituted again with the addition of three new members — Y C Modi,a 1984-batch officer of Meghalaya cadre who was posted as a DIG in CBI,K Venkatesam,a 1988-batch IPS officer from Maharashtra cadre,and Himanshu Shukla,deputy commissioner of police in Ahmedabad Crime Branch.

In his stint with the CBI,Modi had also probed the Haren Pandya murder case.

When The Indian Express filed an RTI application with the state’s Home Department in February this year seeking details of reasons given by SIT members who quit the probe panel,the latter replied that the SIT,as part of the “Special Branch of the Home Department” was exempt from furnishing any information under the RTI Act.