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MODIS ROLE IN 2002 RIOTS: PROBE PANEL DEFERS HEARING (MAY 21, 2009, INDIAN EXPRESS)

The Nanavati-Mehta Commission on Wednesday deferred till June 22 the hearing on an application to summon Chief Minister Narendra Modi to examine his role in the 2002 communal riots in the state. The adjournment came after the government’s counsel at the commission, Tehmtan Nanavati, sought the same, since the advocate general is to appear for the hearing. Mukul Sinha from Jan Sangharsh Manch had filed the application, demanding to summon Modi, his Cabinet colleagues and office staff of 2002 and a senior IPS officer. It seeks to scrutinise their alleged dubious conduct after the Sabarmati Express carnage on February 27, 2002 and during the subsequent statewide communal riots. "The application was pending since 2007. So, recently we filed a reminder application, following which the hearing was scheduled today," Sinha told reporters.

Besides Modi, the then Minister of State for Home, Gordhan Zadafia; the then Health Minister, Ashok Bhatt; IPS officer R J Savani and three employees of the CMO in 2002 have been named in the application. Sinha has given written submissions in the matter, stating why the seven persons have to be summoned for cross examination by the commission. Elaborating on the need to summon Modi, he has stated, among other things, that the Terms of Reference of the commission itself mentions to probe the "role and conduct of the then Chief Minister and/or any other Minister(s) in his Council of Ministers, police officers