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The Court accepted the arguments by the State that the testimonies of Sanjiv Bhatt, Haren Pandya and RB Sreekumar were only to sensationalise and politicise the matter.

There is not even a tittle of material to prove that the 2002 Gujarat Riots were pre-planned, the Supreme Court stated on Friday while dismissing a plea challenging the clean-chit given by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to the then Chief Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi in connection with the riots [Zakia Ahsan Jafri vs State of Gujarat].

A bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and CT Ravikumar noted that as per the material on record, it was unfathomable that any larger conspiracy had been hatched at the higher level as was alleged.

"Suffice it to observe that there is no tittle of material, much less tangible material to support the plea of the appellant that the Godhra incident unfolded on February 27, 2002 and the events which followed, was a pre-planned event owing to the criminal conspiracy hatched at the highest level in the State," the Court said.

The Court said that basis of the allegation regarding conspiracy was the claim by certain officials that they were present at a meeting headed by Modi where he allegedly said that Hindus must be allowed to vent their anger post the Godhra violence. However, that claim is false and collapses like a pack of cards, the Court stated.

"We find force in the argument of the respondent-State that the testimony of Mr. Sanjiv Bhatt, Mr....

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