National

No further SIT remand for Sardarpura massacre accused

AHMEDABAD: The Vijapur fast track court on Friday rejected the Special Investigation Team’s plea for a further remand of the eight accused in the Sardarpura massacre case in Mehsana district in north Gujarat.

The court also rejected their bail applications and sent all of them to judicial custody.

The SIT, headed by the former CBI director R.K. Raghavan, was appointed by the Supreme Court for fresh investigations into a dozen serious incidents of communal riots post-Godhra carnage in 2002. The SIT, which arrested the eight people in connection with the Sardarpura incident on Tuesday, secured a three-day remand from the Vijapur court for intensive questioning.

On Friday, it produced them before the court, seeking remand extension for three days on the ground that it needed some time for cross-checking information volunteered by the accused. The court, however, rejected the demand.

Meanwhile, the Nadiad fast track court on Saturday acquitted all the 65 accused in the Mahudha rioting case in Kaira district as the police failed to establish specific charges against any of them.

Most of the accused, who belonged to the two communities involved, were arrested following stone throwing after a religious place was set on fire in which one person was burnt to death on March 3, 2002.

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