Jan Sangharsh Manch (JSM), a non-government organisation, on Thursday demanded further investigation into the 2002 Naroda Gam and Naroda Patiya riot cases. It alleged that probes by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) was “inadequate and incomplete”.
At a press conference here, JSM representative Mukul Sinha sought investigation under Section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code to find out whether a larger criminal conspiracy was hatched at a higher level to carry out the massacres in the aftermath of the Godhra train carnage.
Sinha said that the role of politicians, officials from the Chief Minister’s Office, senior policemen and several ministers could be established in the crimes if an honest investigation from the perspective of a larger conspiracy was carried out.
Otherwise, several main accused will go scot-free, he said.
Asked if there was a deliberate attempt by the SIT investigators to avoid investigation under Section 120-B, he said it seemed that the Supreme Court-appointed probe team did not want to book and arrest those who were not present on the spot.
He, however, added that SIT chief R K Raghavan had agreed to look into the demand for investigation from a larger criminal conspiracy angle.
JSM representative Amrish Patel and Dildar Umrao Saiyed, a key witness in the Naroda Patiya case, met Raghavan yesterday and submitted him an application in this regard, he said.
Threatening to move the court if the SIT did not probe from this angle, Sinha said the Team has conducted investigations under Section 149 of the IPC, in which only the accused present on the spot were booked and prosecuted.
“If one is not present on the spot, it does not mean that he is not involved in the crime,” he said.
He contended that the investigators had not properly analysed and investigated the phone records of officials in the Chief Minister’s Office, the then state Home Minister, Gordhan Zadafia, and senior police officers. According to Sinha, they were in constant touch with the accused during the carnage between February 28, 2002 and March 4, 2002.
He also showed the phone call details of these officers, which was submitted by IPS officer Rahul Sharma to the Nanavati Commission.
He said Zadaphia and police officer K K Mysorewala were in constant touch with the accused, including Jaydeep Patel, Maya Kodnani, Bipin Panchal and Ashok Patel on and after February 28, but this aspect had not been investigated by the SIT.
He also called for further probe into the phone calls made from the CMO to VHP leader Jaydeep Patel and how the latter brought the bodies of kar sevaks from Godhra to Ahmedabad.
Another point, according to Sinha, that needed deep investigation was the absence of senior police officers M K Tandon and P B Gondia from Gulberg Society between 12 noon and 4pm following a call from Zone IV DCP J Sawani, who was in regular touch with Zadaphia and Jaydeep Patel.
The JSM also sought replacement of Special Public Prosecutors Nigam Shukla and Akhilesh Desai in the Naroda Gam and Naroda Patiya cases, respectively.
Sinha said while Shukla had earlier defended the state government before the Nanavati Commission, Desai was involved in a multi-crore bank scam.
Source: Indian Express
