India

YC Modi, officer who probed 2002 Gujarat riots, is new NIA chief

New Delhi: Senior IPS officer, of the 1984 Assam-Meghalaya cadre, Y.C. Modi has been named as the next head the National Investigation Agency (NIA) – India’s premier counter-terror agency.

The IPS officer who had probed the 2002 Gujarat riots as part of a special investigation team (SIT) appointed by the Supreme Court, will take over from incumbent NIA director-general Sharad Kumar after he resigns from office on October 30.

However Modi, last serving as additional director in Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), has been appointed in the NIA with immediate effect as officer on special duty to ensure “smooth take over of responsibilities in NIA”. He is expected to hold the post until May 31, 2021.

At CBI, Y.C. Modi was in charge of the anti-corruption branch of headquarters, banking and securities fraud cell, special crime, economic offences and the zones of Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bhopal.

Modi probed two key cases in Gujarat during the tenure of Narendra Modi as chief minister of the state. The first was the murder of former Gujarat home minister Haren Pandya in 2003, which he probed during his stint with the CBI.

The probe into the murder of the BJP leader was slammed by the Gujarat high court for “ineptitude resulting into injustice” according to a report published in The Wire.

The second case was related to the 2002 Gujarat riots, which Y C Modi probed as part of the SIT. Among the incidents he probed were those at Gulberg Society, Naroda Patiya and Naroda Gaam. The SIT eventually gave a clean chit to Narendra Modi in the Gulberg Society case.

According to The Wire the ‘elevation of Y.C. Modi is bound to once again ignite the issue of why Gujarat cadre officers are being put in key positions in premier agencies’.

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