I was harassed for giving Modi a clean chit in the 2002 riots: Former CBI Director

New Delhi: Former CBI Director R.K. Raghavan is the same person who led the CBI probe team into the 2002 Gujarat riots and also questioned the then CM Modi. Now he has made some big bangs during his autobiography. He alleged in his autobiography that his opponent had given him a clean chit to the then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi during the Gujarat riots.

"He filed a petition against me, accusing me of favoring the CM," he revealed in his autobiography, A Road Well Traveled. However, the point behind all this was that he tapped the telephone conversation by abusing the central agency but he was annoyed that he was not found guilty in this conversation.

He headed the Supreme Court-appointed SIT to probe allegations of involvement of the then CM Modi in the communal riots in Gujarat. He claimed that the SIT's clear and unbiased stance on the role of the then Chief Minister was undesirable for his opponents. He also opposed the claims made by IPS officer Sanjeev Bhatt, who alleged that the Chief Minister, in a late night official meeting on February 28, 2002, had instructed the senior police officers present at the meeting not to intervene if Hindu sentiments overflowed. Raghav claimed in the book that the allegation had nothing to do with it.

Raghav recalled that Modi's interrogation during the probe was a major incident. "At one point we had to ask Modi about the allegations against the state administration. We told his staff that he would have to come to the SIT office in person for this inquiry, and that meeting with him elsewhere would be considered misconduct. They agreed to come to the SIT office inside the government complex in Gandhinagar. ” Raghav said he had asked SIT member Ashok Malhotra to take an unusual step. Many were distracted by his decision to stay away. "Modi's interrogation lasted for nine hours. Malhotra told me that Modi had never been seen restless during the session which ended late at night and he had given full cooperation. He never avoided questions. " That is what Raghav said in the book.

Referring to a petition filed in the apex court by Zakia Jaffrey, widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jaffrey, Raghav said the chief minister did not accept the allegation of guilt in the SIT's inquiry.