SIT visits Ode village to probe massacre of 30 people

Ahmedabad, May 13 (UNI) The Special Investigation Team (SIT), formed on orders by the Supreme Court to re-investigate 10 major cases of the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat, today visited Ode village of Kheda district, where 30 people were allegedly killed.

It is alleged that the 30 people, belonging to minority community, were murdered and their bodies thrown into a well.

However, police had confirmed only three deaths in its First Information Report(FIR) and reported 27 people as 'missing'.

The SIT, with the help of local authorities, started pumping out the water from the well with a view to search the remains of the dead.

The five-member team, led by former Central Bureau of Investigation director R K Raghavan, have so far visited several places including Gulburg Society, where former Congress MP Ehsan Jaffri and 38 other people were killed in Ahmedabad during the riots.

The team also comprises three Gujarat IPS officers -- Geetha Johri, Shivanand Jha and Ashish Bhatia, and former director general of Uttar Pradesh police C B Satpathy.

It has to submit its report within three months to the Supreme Court.

The apex court ordered appointment of the SIT following receipt of petitions demanding re-investigation of the cases pertaining to the communal carnage following the burning of 59 Hindu pilgrims in a S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express at Godhra on February 27, 2002.

UNI MP SSS OBB AM KN2052