The Supreme Court of India today put Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the dock by ordering a fresh investigation by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the 2002 communal riots that led to the massacre of over a thousand Muslims.

Comprising a total of five members (three senior IPS officers from Gujarat, retired CBI Director RK Raghavan and retired Uttar Pradesh police officer CB Satpathy),  the SIT is expected to complete its probe in three months and submit a report. The three IPS officers from Gujarat are Geeta Johri, Shivanand Jha and Ashish Bhatia.

Today’s order for a fresh probe into Gujarat Communal riots was a result of a petition made by Human Rights Groups expressing fears of bias in investigations.

The probe would focus on cases related to Gulberg, Ode and Sardarpur massacres, and the Naroda Gaon, Naroda Patiya, Baranpura, Machipith, Tarsali, Pandarwada and Raghovpura killings.

BJP leader and current Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was at the helm of the state government during the massacre too. But like the Roman Emperor Nero, Modi’s government was fiddling while the wholesale massacre of Muslims was happening.