New Delhi: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has said he will respond to the summons served on him by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the 2002 riots in the state but insists he was not called on March 21 for questioning.
CNN-IBN learns Modi has written a letter to people of state, saying he will cooperate with the probe. "I shall respond to the SIT, fully respecting the law and keeping in view the dignity of a body appointed by the Supreme Court,” he said in his letter.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader claimed “vested interests” had misinformed the public that he had been asked to appear before the SIT on March 21.
"The date of 21st March 2010 was invented by some vested interests and as a part of their effort to interfere in the due process of law," he said in his letter.
"Some wanted to paint me as a person who refused to respond to SIT--media became an instrument of disinformers. These purveyors of lies even did not once bother to check whether the key SIT officers, who are appointed by the Supreme Court, were present in Gujarat on March 21, 2010."
"It is a matter of grave concern and needs investigation as to why and who started spreading lies that ‘SIT summons Narendra Modi on March 21, 2010.’’
Modi said there have been many campaigns to malign him in the past eight years. He once again invoked Gujarat asmita or the pride of Gujarat, saying there was an attempt to defame the state.
"A systematic campaign to defame Gujarat through propagation of false reports has been launched to defame me and Gujarat."
Modi was summoned by the SIT in connection with a complaint filed by Zakia Jaffery, wife of murdered former Congress MP Eshan Jaffrey in the 2002 Gulburg society riot in Ahmedabad. The former Congress MP was killed along with 69 others by a mob at Gulburg society in Ahmedabad in February 2002.
Modi on Sunday didn't appear before the SIT on Sunday, prompting the Congress to accuse him of being "contemptuous" of the law. SIT chief RK Raghavan was, however, out of town.
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