By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
Ahmedabad: Reconstitution of the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team probing Gujarat riots of 2002 has been demanded citing the facts that put the integrity of the SIT chief under cloud. The demand of reconstitution has come when SIT is in the final stages of submitting its report.
Former IPS officer and former state cabinet minister, Jaspal Singh has made the demand in a letter written to the registrar of Supreme Court on May 7. SIT is probing slain Congress MP Ehsan Jafri’s widow Zakia Jafri’s complaint against chief minister Narendra Modi and others in regard with their involvement in the pogrom.
Singh has cited seven grounds for reconstitution of the agency, mainly casting doubts on SIT chief RK Raghavan’s integrity and commitment to the investigations, say media reports.
”With Raghavan appointed as security consultant by the Tata group of companies, which has in turn been given perks of up to Rs9,000 crore by Gujarat government,” the letter reportedly states.
Singh said that Raghvan not only gave SIT officials from Gujarat police a free hand in investigation of riot related cases, he also neglected his work of supervision and monitoring of the investigation rules by the SIT. Raghvan had also publicly reiterated his faith in Gujarat police officers in media interactions, despite the apex court order to remove Geetha Johri and Shivanand Jha from SIT.
Most importantly, Singh has raised the issue of salary being given to Raghvan by Gujarat government. “Raghavan is paid Rs1.5 lakh per month as per government of Gujarat legal department resolution No. SBII/COM/108/Special Team dated 30.06.2009.”
Singh also alleged that Raghavan has been accepting favours from Modi government for claiming airfares from Ahmedabad to London and back, though his London visits were for private and personal reasons.
Based on these facts, Singh had urged the SC to reconstitute the SIT for ensuring justice.