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Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi had told the SupremeCourt-appointed Special Investigation Team — which is probingsome of the gruesome carnages during the 2002 communal riots in theState — that he never issued any instructions to top policeofficers to allow Hindus to "vent their anger" againstMuslims in the aftermath of the Godhra train carnage. "It is a baseless allegation. On the contrary, I had givencategorical and clear-cut instructions to maintain peace andcommunal harmony at any cost," Mr. Modi had told SITInvestigating Officer A.K. Malhotra, who questioned him on March 27and 28, 2010. Classified document The statement made by Mr. Modi before the SIT, which was the firstand by far the only investigating agency to question him on the2002 riots, was considered a classified document and formed part ofthe SIT report submitted before the Supreme Court. Butsurprisingly, on Thursday, the "signed statement" founda place on the website of a local Gujarati daily. How and who"leaked" Mr. Modi's statement before the SIT was notknown. According to the statement, countersigned on every page by Mr. Modion March 28, 2010, the investigating officer had put to him 71questions and each of them was answered by Mr. Modi, rarelyavoiding an answer, claiming "I do not remember." TheChief Minister was questioned on almost the entire gamut of theriots, the decision to shift the bodies of the Godhra train carnagevictims to Ahmedabad, the security arrangements made to meet thetense communal situation, deployment of the Army and his knowledgeabout the attacks on the minorities in Gulberg Society andNaroda-Patiya localities in Ahmedabad. Mr. Modi had claimed that shifting of the bodies was a"collective decision" of the top police andadministrative officers present in Godhra and was taken to defuse"building up of tension in Godhra." He claimed that theArmy was deployed in the affected areas without any delay anddenied that the slain former Congress MP, Ehsan Jafri, had evercontacted him on phone before being killed in the Gulberg Societyattack. The Chief Minister denied having any prior knowledge of theattacks on Gulberg Society or Naroda-Patiya. He also denied havingasked the then Cabinet Ministers, Ashok Bhatt and I.K. Jadeja, tosit in the Ahmedabad city and State police control rooms andinterfere with the functioning of the police on the "GujaratBandh" day, February 28, 2002. Mr. Modi refuted the allegations that he was in "constanttouch" with some of the leaders of the BJP and the VishwaHindu Parishad, who were later registered as accused in the riots,and denied that the controversial Gujarat cadre IPS officer, SanjivBhatt — who created a flutter later by filing an affidavit inthe Supreme Court against the Chief Minister — was present onthe crucial law and order meeting at his official residence inGandhinagar on the night of February 27, 2002, during which he wasalleged to have "instructed" the police officers to"allow Hindus to vent their anger." Mr. Modi denied that his first reaction to the Godhra train carnagewas to declare it a "pre-planned conspiracy," butadmitted that after visiting the site and talking to the police andadministrative officials as well as those present at the Godhrarailway station who were witnesses to the incident and the injuredpassengers of the ill-fated coach, he did tell the media in Godhrathat the incident "appeared to be a pre-plannedconspiracy." But he had also added that nothing could be saidwith finality until the investigation was completed. The ChiefMinister also denied having ever talked about "Pakistani spyagency ISI's hand" behind the conspiracy. Asked about the crucial February 27, 2002 meeting, Mr. Modi hadsaid among those present were the then acting Chief Secretary,Swarna Kanta Varma; the then Additional Chief Secretary (Home),Ashok Narayan; the then Home Secretary, K. Nityanandam; the thenDirector-General of Police, K. Chakravarthi; Ahmedabad PoliceCommissioner P.C. Pande; and two senior officials of the CMO, P.K.Mishra and Anil Mukim. "As far as I recollect, the thenAdditional DGP [Intelligence], G.C. Raigar, was not present. Mr.Sanjiv Bhatt, the then Deputy Commissioner [Intelligence], did notattend as this was a high-level meeting. None of my Cabinetcolleagues was present in the said meeting." At the meeting, the Chief Minister said he shared information withthe officers about his visit to Godhra and the officers briefed himabout the precautionary measures being taken by them. The Chief Minister denied that the State Intelligence Branch (SIB)had given any information about the movement of VHP kar sevaks toand fro from Ayodhya and said if there was any such information, itmust be with the departments concerned. On being informed about thetrain carnage by about 9 a.m. on February 27, he had issueddirections that necessary steps be taken to ensure that otherpassengers were not held up as it could lead to tension andimposition of curfew in Godhra immediately since it was acommunally sensitive place. The Chief Minister said that after reaching Godhra in the eveningthe same day — after the day's session of the Assembly wasover — he visited the spot and other places and later held ameeting with the government and police officers at the DistrictCollector's office where a "collective decision" wastaken by all present to shift the charred bodies of the victims toAhmedabad in view of the mounting tension in Godhra. Mr. Modi saidthe decision was taken because of the knowledge that most of thevictims belonged to Ahmedabad or other places beyond Ahmedabad andthat their relatives need not go to Godhra for identification andclaiming the bodies as Godhra then was under curfew. He also deniedthat the then District Collector, Jayanti Ravi, had opposed thedecision and, on the contrary, she was insistent that the bodies bemoved away from Godhra to ease the tension. He also denied that thebodies were handed over to VHP leader Jaydeep Patel as was claimedlater. Mr. Modi maintained that the bodies were in the custody ofthe district administration. Mr. Modi denied that he had ever given any interview to The Times of India advocating the famous theory of "every action has itsreaction." The newspaper was forced to carry the denial butit was published in an obscure corner and the allegation wasrepeated against him time and again. He also denied the allegationspurportedly made against him by some BJP and VHP leaders in a"so-called sting operation" by the Tehelka Magazine. The Chief Minister also refuted the allegations made by the retiredAdditional DGP, R.B. Shreekumar, in affidavits filed before theG.T. Nanavati-Akshay Mehta judicial inquiry commission that his(Mr. Modi's) officers were trying to influence the retired officerto file false affidavits in favour of the government. On the petition filed by Zakia Jafri, wife of the slain Congress MPEhsan Jafri, in the Supreme Court, Mr. Modi said her charges"deserved to dismissed completely and such false andfrivolous complaints should not be entertained.". I am an expert from wellmedlab.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Urinary Bag , Medical Laboratory Devices, Medical Surgical Tape,and more.
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