‘SIT probe documents highly sensitive,not for public view’

The metro court may take a call on whether to make these public or not on Thursday,which is likely to decide which way the case will go.

Jafri,who lost her husband in the Gulberg Society massacre that killed 69,had sought to book Modi,his ministers,bureaucrats,police officers and political leaders for omission and commission during the riots. However the SIT,which questioned Modi in March 2010,found no material evidence against him.

“Almost three years later, investigation in this case are over from our side. There are documents collected during the probe that have not been given to the petitioners. As per the Supreme Court’s order,the report has to be handed over to them,” an SIT officer told The Indian Express.

“However,we do not want that petitioners should see these documents. They are highly sensitive documents of central and state agencies that are sensitive and not for public view. It should not be given to them for security reasons,” he added.

Sources in the SIT said that apart from the call records of IPS officers posted in Ahmedabad and Godhra during that period,there are government records of the movements of these officers,records of logbooks and control room messages,a jigsaw which,if pieced together,might hint of negligence by certain government officials. The papers contain details of police firing,up to which officer shot how many people from which community and so on.

For instance,the fax to call the army went to the Defence Ministry at 2.30 pm on February 28,2002 and the army came on March 1 at 10 pm. While riot victims view this as a lapse,an investigator said,“By the time the army was called,everything was over in any case,so how is Modi to blame?”

The SIT’s roughly 40,000 pages of evidence also include the cross-examination of Modi besides statements of 61 others whom Jafri holds responsible. The SIT,through its 71 questions to Modi replied in an 18-page signed document,found no hint of conspiracy in any of the post-Godhra riot cases. However,it is still not saying that this is a clean chit to Modi.

An SIT source said,“None of the 69 suspects,including Chief Minister Narendra Modi,as alleged,has emerged in the role of a mastermind. The lapses from the government and police were evident but there is no evidence to show there was a meeting of minds or a conspiracy in this lapse.” Although the SIT sees these lapses in the roles of police officers directly supervising Meghaninagar where Gulberg Society is located,like P B Gondia (then Zone DCP),M K Tandon (then JCP Sector II),K G Erda (police inspector of Meghaninagar police station),it does not see a plot to kill.

The SIT officer said,“If intentions are not there then no offence is made. If these officers showed irresponsibility with a motive then only it can be called an offence… There are no concrete evidence to prove that their ‘intentions’ to show negligence.” According to the SIT,the government records and other inputs do not support Zakia’s claims.