Gandhinagar:
The Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) questioned Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for nearly 10 hours in the Gujarat riots case. Modi came out of the SIT office only after 1 am on Sunday morning. The SIT chief, R K Raghavan, has not ruled out calling Modi again, in what has been the first time a serving Chief Minister has been questioned like this. (
Read: Riots panel grills Modi for 10 hours)
And after it all ended, Modi said he had come for questioning as soon as he was asked and blamed the media for conducting it's own trial. (
Watch: Want to cooperate fully with SIT, says Modi)
"In the last eight years, for the first time someone wanted to question me. I came in for questioning on the first date they mentioned. Those who are spreading rumours about me not answering for eight years, I ask God to give them some good sense. We should always create the right atmosphere where laws can be upheld," he said. (
Watch: A fitting reply to my critics, says Modi)
''From February 27, 2002, to the time the elections were held in December that year, the questioning covered all these months,'' Modi added.
That perhaps explains the 10 hours Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has spent before the Special Investigation Team.
It has been eight years since the Gujarat communal riots and this is the first time Modi, an alleged mastermind, has been questioned.
Sixty-two other accused in the case are mostly government and police officials under his chief ministership in 2002.
The questioning of all of them, most crucially Modi's, will form the basis of the larger investigation into the Gujarat riots.
On being asked, whether there was still a chance that Modi could be recalled? Special Investigation Team chief R K Ragavan said, "That depends on the appreciation of evidence. That when it reaches my table I will have a look at it and if there are some grey areas, some lacunae or some gaps, possibly we may think. But there is no certainty. That applies to every witness whom we have examined." (
Read/Watch: R K Raghavan speaks exclusively to NDTV)
When asked, it took so long because you had to cover the entire gamut of...? Raghavan said, "Absolutely, absolutely. That's my conjecture, and also you understand that as he speaks, it has to be put down in writing, that is to be typed and then he has to ensure that it has to be accurate, accurate reproduction of what he said, then ultimately signed by him.
The Special Investigation Team has been appointed by the Supreme Court and will submit the report to the court in a month.
Will the SIT also file an FIR against the accused, which sets the legal wheel rolling?
Commenting on the issue of FIR against the accused, Raghavan said, ''No, now I don't want to speculate on that. I must have a good look at what has been collected in terms of evidence. I must appreciate evidence then possibly remit it for legal opinion and then finalise my report to the Supreme Court. Deadline is April 30, and I am reasonably confident that I will beat the deadline."
As for Narendra Modi, there is no indication whatsoever of the tight spot he could be in if an FIR is filed.