2002 Gujarat Riots: Former Judge says there’s audio tape with evidence against Modi
The news below is from Secular Action Network.
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AHMEDABAD: A retired judge who investigated the Gujarat riots says there's evidence that must be
considered against Narendra Modi. Justice H Suresh was a part of a people's
fact-finding committee that travelled to Gujarat
in may 2002, just months after communal violence devastated the state. 1200
people were killed, most of them Muslims.
Justice Suresh says that during his trip to Gujarat , he met Haren Pandya, who was then a minister in
Mr Modi's government. Mr Pandya allegedly said that the chief minister had
called a meeting in February, hours after a train was set on fire at the Godhra
station. Nearly 60 karseveaks who were on their way back from Ayodhya died. Mr
Pandya allegedly told the judge that at his meeting, Mr Modi instructed senior
police officers to let Hindus exact their revenge.
Justice Suresh says that Mr Pandya' conversation with him
and retired Supreme Court judge PB Sawant was recorded on an audio tape. But Mr
Pandya pleaded with both judges to not attribute this information to him.
"He said he will come and meet us provided its kept
confidential and his name should not be disclosed ...we agreed on that...only
some of us Justice Sawant, myself and one or two others were there ..and then
we heard him, recorded his statement but we kept it very confidential,"
Justice Suresh told NDTV.
Mr Pandya pleaded with both judges to not attribute this
information to him. "He said he will come and meet us provided its kept
confidential and his name should not be disclosed ...we agreed on that...only
some of us Justice Sawant, myself and one or two others were there ..and then
we heard him, recorded his statement but we kept it very confidential,"
Justice Suresh told NDTV. Mr Pandya was shot dead in 2003
while on his morning walk. He had fallen out with Mr Modi by then and was no
longer a minister. Justice Suresh says that he shared what Mr Pandya told him
in 2009 with a Special Investigating Team (SIT) that was appointed by the
Supreme Court to study allegations of Mr Modi's complicity in the riots. Last
week, the SIT submitted its findings to a court in Gujarat .
It has reportedly concluded that there is no prosecutable evidence against the
Chief Minister.
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