Gujarat riots: Supreme Court to hear plea for Amit Shah probe today

The Supreme Court will hear on Tuesday a petition for a probe by a special investigation team into the alleged role of BJP president Amit Shah in scuttling the trial in the 2002 Gujarat communal riots cases.

A three-judge bench of Chief Justice H.L. Dattu and Justices Shiv Kirti Singh and Amitav Roy posted the petition by Sanjeev Bhat for urgent hearing on a mention made by senior counsel Indira Jaising.

Mr Bhat had earlier filed a writ petition challenging the FIR filed against him by the Gujarat government and seeking transfer of the case to the CBI and it is still pending. He alleged that the said FIR had been lodged against him at the behest of the highest state functionaries, including then chief minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi, in order to intimidate and deter him from disclosing sensitive information pertaining to the criminal nexus between the state ministers, politicians, bureaucrats, senior police officials, government law officers, and non-state actors, amongst others to subvert the process of law and interfere with the administration of justice in the context of several cases relating to the Gujarat riots in 2002.

In the application in the pending petition, Mr Bhat sought impleadment of Mr Shah, Mr Gurumurthy Swaminathan, Mr G.C. Murmu, Mr Vijay Badekha as respondents for a proper inquiry.