Modi questioning a big step forward: SIT chief
By IANSSunday, March 28, 2010
NEW DELHI/AHMEDABAD - R.K. Raghavan, chief of the Supreme Court-appointed probe panel that quizzed Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi over the 2002 riots, said the questioning of Modi was a very big step forward in completing investigation into the communal carnage that claimed over 1,000 lives.
Modi was questioned for nearly 10 hours Saturday in Gandhinagar by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on a complaint by Zakia Jaffri, widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jaffri killed in the riots. She has alleged that the chief minister was party to the 2002 violence that swept Gujarat following a train burning in Godhra that killed 59 people.
Definitely, it (the questioning of Modi) was a very big step forward in unravelling few of the mysteries in the matter, Raghavan told CNN-IBN television channel.
He asserted that Zakia Jaffri’s petition was the basis for questioning Modi. I don’t want to go into details, but broadly speaking, Zakia’s petition was the basic document on which we had to quiz Narendra Modi.
Raghavan added that the investigating officer quizzing Modi would have gone into all the issues related to the matter.
He told NDTV channel that it took 10 hours to grill Modi, as a lot of procedures had to be followed. As he speaks, it has to be put into writing. Accurate reproduction of what he says has to be done, and it is then signed by him, said Raghavan, former Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director.
Incidentally, Raghavan was not on the SIT premises when the questioning was going on. (A.K.) Malhotra is the investigating officer. He is competent. I cannot breathe down his neck. This is CBI practice, he said.
Raghavan asserted that the report on the case would be completed before the Supreme Court’s deadline of April 30.
There may be a few more witnesses to be called, but I am confident that Malhotra will give me the report in advance. It will have to be examined by me and then remitted for legal opinion, he said.
On whether Modi may be recalled for questioning, he said: That will have to be examined in the evidence. If there is any lacunae, then we can can recall a witness, he said.
