Activists raise pitch,former cops clam up

SIT chief R K Raghavan and member A K Malhotra were also unavailable despite several attempts. Bhatt has accused Malhotra of leaking his confidential depositions to the state government and to the media.

Zakia Jafri,widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri who was killed by rioters in Ahmedabad’s Gulberg Society,said: “Bhatt’s statements corroborate assertions in my petition filed in the Supreme Court that CM Narendra Modi and 62 others were involved in the larger conspiracy of the 2002 riots.”

“I hope the Supreme Court will convert my complaint into an FIR against Modi and others for their involvement in the massacres,” she said.

Activist Teesta Setalvad of the Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP),who provided legal assistance to Zakia Jafri in filing

her petition in the Supreme Court,said: “The statements of Sanjiv Bhatt are a direct confirmation of Modi’s role in post-Godhra riots and the only next logical step is the registration of an FIR against Modi and 62 others as sought by Zakia Jafri in her petition.”

The Gujarat Congress refused to comment. GPCC president Arjun Modhwadia said the matter was sub-judice but added,“The Supreme Court will take an appropriate action. We have full faith in the judiciary,” he said.

J S Bandukwala,head of Gujarat unit of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL),said: “We already know what had happened on February 27 evening through R B Sreekumar’s submission,and we also know what later happened to Haren Pandya (former Gujarat home minister) who lost his life for the same reason.”