Gujarat probes did fact-fudging, helped shield Modi, says new book

At the same time, the Nanavati commission "had no qualms in indicting Muslims on second-hand evidence".

And while Nanavati summoned veteran Congress leaders for the 1984 anti-Sikh violence in Delhi (which too he probed), "the same retired judge balked at summoning or notifying Modi" when it came to Gujarat.

"One could well ask whether Nanavati was engaged in any fact-finding at all."

The book says: "Modi is not the first politician beneficiary of such a cover-up. In fact, in India, fact-fudging is increasingly the norm, fact-finding the exception. It is time this insidious form of abuse is acknowledged as systemic subversion, committed from within the judicial fraternity."

The book concludes: "The 'fiction' pedalled as SIT findings have not only shielded Modi but also served to prop up his image as a decisive and impartial administrator...

"This is a commentary on how little the Indian legal culture has evolved where it really matters."