Ahmedabad : The Gujarat High Court today rejected Zakia Jafri's plea challenging a lower court order upholding SIT's clean chit to then chief minister Narendra Modi and others on the allegation of larger conspiracy in connection with the 2002 post-Godhra riots. Justice Sonia Gokani rejected the larger conspiracy charge, saying that it was not accepted by the Supreme court. "It (larger conspiracy) was already discussed by the Supreme Court in Sanjiv Bhatt's matter and dismissed by it.
I do not want to go into that, therefore I reject this plea for larger conspiracy," Justice Gokani said. However, she said that the petitioner can approach a higher court for further investigation in the case. "The magistrate was not right in saying that it had limited power with regards to further investigation," Justice Gokani said. The hearing in the case had concluded on July 3. Zakia, the wife of slain former MP Ehsan Jafri, and
activist Teesta Setalvad's NGO Citizen for Justice and Peace had moved the criminal review petition against a magistrate's order upholding the clean chit given by the special investigation team (SIT) to Modi and others regarding the allegations of a "larger criminal conspiracy" behind the riots. PTI
