Modi fails to appear before SIT, exploring options

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi failed to show up before the Supreme Court appointed SIT which had summoned him on Sunday for questioning in connection with a 2002 riots case. 

The SIT has also not received any communication from the state government regarding the summons issued on 11^thMarch, sources in the investigating team said.

The office of the Special Investigation Team in Gandhinagar was kept open today and its members were present in case Modi presented himself but the senior BJP leader ignored the summons and gave the panel a miss. SIT chief R K Raghavan was, however, out of town.

Official sources said 59-year-old Modi has sought legal alternatives in response to the summons by the SIT on 11^thMarch. It was for the first time that the chief minister was being called for questioning in connection with the riots.

Modi was summoned by the SIT with regard to a complaint filed by Zakia Jaffery, wife of slain former MP Eshan Jaffrey in the 2002 Gulburg society riots case.

The former Congress MP was killed along with 69 others by a mob at Gulburg society in Ahmedabad in February 2002.

The Congress attacked Modi for not appearing before the SIT saying it was "contemptuous" and showed that he "loves to hide".

"The SIT's direction to Narendra Modi to appear before it shows the seriousness and importance attached to the issue by the apex court," party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said in New Delhi.

"For Modi to avoid appearing on any ground or pretext is contemptuous and would show that he loves to hide," he said.

BJP spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy evaded a direct reply when asked if Modi would depose before the SIT but said, "The government of Gujarat has made it clear that it shall act as per the law.

The Supreme Court, had on 27^th April last year, asked the SIT to inquire into Zakia's complaint in which she has alleged Modi and 62 others, including his cabinet colleagues, police officials and senior bureaucrats aided and abetted the riots which left over 1,000 people dead.