Gujarat: SIT chief R K Raghavan, amicus curiae Harish Salve come under cloud

By TCN Special Correspondent,

Ahmedabad: Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) chief R K Raghavan supervising the 10 most heinous anti-Muslim riot cases of 2002 in Gujarat and amicus curiae Harish Salve assisting the apex court in the matter, seem to have come under cloud. Both are being accused of protecting Modi for the favours they received.

While the credibility of Raghavan in the investigation is being questioned for the alleged favours he is reported to have received from the Narendra Modi government, the integrity of Salve has come under suspicion after he allegedly lobbied with senior officials of the Modi government for clearance of a multi-billion wind energy project of a London-based company, Eros Energy.

SIT chief R.K. Raghavan [Photo: Outlookindia]

While the allegations of Raghavan protecting Modi in the Zakia Jafri case were made by Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil at a public meeting at Rajkot on Sunday (March 13), the issue of Salve having lobbied for the foreign corporate house was raised in the state assembly a week ago, with BJP maintaining a stoic silence over the issue.

Addressing party workers at Rajkot, Gohil alleged that the SIT under Raghavan did not probe the “larger conspiracy angle’’ in the 2002 riots as pointed out by Zakia Jafri in her petition in the apex court.

The Congress leader also alleged that Raghavan had also tried to dilute the findings of the SIT inquiry report into Zakia’s petition by recommending that no further inquiry was needed into Modi’s role in the riots. SIT, in its report to the apex court, had said that there was no concrete evidence about Modi’s involvement in the anti-Muslim riots.

Gohil told his audience that SIT under Raghavan had betrayed the trust of the people who had posed their faith in him and expected him to dig out the truth.

Regarding favours, Gohil said that the state government had paid the bill for Raghavan’s several personal trips to London. He challenged Raghavan to prove that these trips were in connection with the SIT probes if he were honest and submit its details to the apex court. Gohil said he had evidence that his trips were funded by the state government.

As for Salve having lobbied for Eros Energy, Gohil told the state assembly that Salve had personally sent an email to additional advocate general Tushar Mehta seeking clearance of a wind energy project.

SIT amicus curiae Harish Salve [Photo: The Hindu]

Gohil said that Salve also personally spoke to senior officials -- G C Murmu and Sanjay Bhavsar -- in Chief Minister’s Office for clearance of the project. The company has now been allotted 200 acres of land and received permission for setting up a 25 MW solar power plant in the state.

Being amicus curiae, Salve played an important role in helping the court regarding the investigation of the riot cases and appointment of officials in the SIT. Salve is being accused of favouring Modi by getting pliable IPS officials from the Gujarat cadre appointed as SIT members. These officials are now allegedly helping Modi, with no cases being registered against senior politicians alleged to have played a role in the riots.

Commenting on it, leading human rights activist and president of Peoples’ Union for Civil Liberties(PUCL) J S Bandukwala said: “It is deeply disappointing and disgusting that such prominent people connected with investigation of such vital cases of 2002 riots appear to lose their integrity at a critical time’’.