‘Plan to keep pot boiling’: SIT to Supreme Court on Zakia’s plea

NEW DELHI: There is a sinister plot behind the complaint to probe the “larger conspiracy” behind the 2002 Gujarat riots, and the original complaint by Zakia Ahsan Jafri was directed by social activist Teesta Setalvad, who levelled allegations just to keep the pot boiling, a special investigation team (SIT) told the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

The SIT, which took up Zakia’s complaint in 2011 on an order by the top court, filed a closure report in February 2012 giving clean chit to 63 people, and ruling out any conspiracy by the state or its officials. PM Narendra Modi, who served as Gujarat’s chief minister at the time, was among the people exonerated. The SIT, represented by senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi said, “What was started by the complainant (Zakia) is now being directed by Teesta Setalvad who is being joined by RB Sreekumar (former Gujarat police chief) in making all kinds of allegations against all people with the singular motive to keep the pot boiling.”

Rohatgi said that the top court should put an end to the matter in the ongoing proceedings, where both Zakia and Setalvad have challenged an October 2017 order of the Gujarat high court refusing to reopen the closure report of the SIT. Rohatgi added that when the matter was assigned by the top court for probe to the SIT in September 2011, “this court saw the tears of a victim of Gulbarga Society.” He was referring to Zakia, whose husband, former Congress MP Ahsan Jafri, was killed during at Gulbarga Society during the riots. “Her complaint had named 63 persons and in her appeal before Gujarat HC, further 50 more names were added. The bench of justices told Rohatgi to highlight this aspect in the form of a chart. “Give us bullet points on how the improvement in the complaint was made.

Rohatgi admitted that there was “obviously a failure of administration as they were overrun on the day riots began”, and added: “Ultimately, you can say police was complacent and charge them for dereliction of duty but there is no criminal conspiracy.”