SC ‘friend’ in riot probe lands,meets DIG Bhatt

The amicus curiae of the apex court,Raju Ramchandran,met IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt for around two-and-a-half-hours today at the BSF Headquarters near Chiloda in Gandhinagar.

In his affidavit submitted to the SC,Bhatt had alleged Modi’s role in the 2002 riots and accused SIT of disregarding evidence produced by him in a bid to shield the CM.

Sources said Ramchandran has also met or could meet some other police officers,politicians,lawyers and witnesses related to the Gulberg Society massacre.

Ramchandran is in Ahmedabad under the SC’s direction to independently consider if there is evidence against Modi and others in connection with a complaint lodged by Zakia Jafri,the widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri who was among 69 people killed by a violent mob that attacked Gulberg Society during the 2002 riots.

Zakia’s complaint had alleged that Modi and 62 others were involved in the killings.

Sources said Ramchandran had written letters to all those who he wanted to meet and informed them about his arrival. SIT officers have been kept away from Ramchandran’s direct interactions with a cross-section of people.

On May 6 this year,the SC sidestepped its own SIT while asking Ramchandran to independently consider evidence,if any,against Modi and others.

Earlier,the SIT had submitted its status report on Zakia’s complaint but Ramchandran had picked holes in it. The SC then observed it could not overlook Ramchandran’s objections. The court also gave Ramchandran liberty to directly interact with the witnesses and police officers named in the status report.