Gandhinagar, March 20: Gujarat CM Narendra Modi is likely to skip his Sunday date with the Special Investigation team (SIT). He had not responded to the SIT summons till 9 pm Saturday and sources close to him claimed he would not appear before the riot probe panel on Sunday. Mr Modi was supposed to appear before the Supreme Court-appointed special panel on Sunday following a summons issued by the SIT.

SIT chief R.K. Raghavan told this newspaper they were yet to receive any confirmation  from Mr Modi or his office regarding the summons. “He has not responded to the summons so far,” he said, adding that Mr  Modi can either give a specific date on which he will appear before the special probe panel, or can seek an extension of time to reply.
A government official, meanwhile, said, “Nobody knows what is in his mind. It is very difficult to read somebody’s thoughts. He is holding all the cards close              
to his chest and will reveal them only at the right moment.”
Mr Modi was summoned to appear before the probe panel following allegations by Ms Zakia Jafri, the widow of former MP Ehsan Jafri who was killed in the Gulburg Society riots.
The Supreme Court had on April 27, 2009 asked the SIT to inquire into Ms Jafri’s  complaint in which she alleged that Mr 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. The former MP and 69 others were killed by a mob at Gulburg Society in February 2002. Ms Zakia Jafri lodged a complaint on June 8, 2006.
Ms Jafri approached the apex court after the Gujarat high court refused on November 3, 2007 to give any direction and asked her to seek redress before the magistrate’s court.
She had alleged “deliberate and intentional failure” of the state government to protect the life and property of people between February and May 2002.
The SIT faced legal hurdles while probing her complaint — in July 2009, former BJP MLA Kalu Malivad (one of the 63 people named in the complaint) approached the Gujarat high court demanding a stay on investigations by the SIT with regard to Ms Zakia Jafri. The high court had dismissed the petition, saying as the SIT was directly working under the supervision of the Supreme Court no relief could be granted in this matter.
Mr Malivad has now approached the Supreme Court challenging the high court verdict. In connection with Ms Jafri’s complaint, the SIT has already recorded the statements of a number of persons named in her complaint, including former minister of state for home Gordhan Zadafia, BJP leader I.K. Jadeja, former BJP MLA from Lunawada Kalu Malivad and sitting MLA from Mehsana Anil Patel, former IPS officer R.B. Sreekumar, social activist Teesta Setalvad, IG Shivanand Jha, other senior police officers and political leaders.

Deepal Trivedi