Gujarat riots trial: Witness 'blames' Modi

Ahmedabad: On February 28, 2002, 69 people were massacred by rioters at Gulbarg Society in Ahmedabad. Among them Congress' Ex-MP Ehsan Jafri, who was burnt alive. Now, seven years later, Imtiyaz Pathan, a survivor, has told the court that as a mob started to gather outside, a desperate Jafri had called chief minister Narendra Modi for help.

At least 1180 people were killed in riots and massacres across Gujarat after Hindu pilgrims and travelers were burnt down in coach S 6 of Sabarmati Express in Godhra more than seven years ago. The riots at Gulbarg Society were among the most violent. Ehsan Jafri, who tried to calm the tension, was burnt alive before his family. In the violence that raged for 24 hours, Imtiyaz Pathan lost six family members, including his old mother.

During a three-day deposition before a fast-track court, witness Imtiyaz Pathan said that when a mob started gathering outside Gulbarga Society and the police refused to come, Jafri had called Chief Minister Narendra Modi for help.

"When no police help came, as a last resort, Ehsan Jafri called Narendra Modi. Modi did not listen to him, in fact he abused him. This much I remember," Pathan said.

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Pathan also identified 20 of the accused. About 100 accused have been arrested in the case.

This is the first testimony against the chief minister, already accused of orchestrating the riots by many victims, even ministers and top cops in his own government.

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Pathan's is the first eyewitness account in the trial, which began this September after being held up for seven years.

The police are reinvestigating nine major riots cases alongside, and the findings will be made part of the trial.

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Imtiyaz Pathan claims that after the riots, he had told the Ahmedabad Police about how Modi had refused to help the Gulbarg victims. But the police did not include that record as part of his statement.

But why did Imtiyaz not mention this to the Special Investigation Team when reinvestigation began? Imtiyaz evaded this question suggesting he felt threatened.

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Ehsan Jafri's widow, meanwhile, wants justice. "Now there are so many statements against Modi. He should be subjected to a narco-analysis test so that more facts emerge," said Zakiya Jafri said.

Zakiya, Ehsan Jafri's widow, is the only victim who named on paper Narendra Modi and 69 other ministers and policemen paving the way for the reinvestigation.

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Modi is not an accused in this trial not even after Pathan's statement. Not till the reinvestigation team brings in concrete proof against the chief minister.