Officer who probed 2002 Gujarat riots is new NIA chief

Y C Modi, a 1984-batch IPS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, probed two sets of key cases in Gujarat during the tenure of Narendra Modi as chief minister (File)

The government appointed Y C Modi, an IPS officer who had probed the 2002 Gujarat riots as part of a special investigation team appointed by the Supreme Court, as the chief of the National Investigation Agency Monday. Last serving as additional director in the CBI, Modi has been appointed in the NIA with immediate effect as officer on special duty. He will take over from incumbent NIA director-general Sharad Kumar after he demits office on October 30.

Y C Modi, a 1984-batch IPS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, probed two sets of key cases in Gujarat during the tenure of Narendra Modi as chief minister. The first was the murder of Haren Pandya in Gandhinagar in 2003, which he probed during his earlier stint with the CBI. A POTA court convicted 12 of 15 accused chargesheeted; Gujarat High Court acquitted all in 2011.

The second set of cases related to the 2002 riots, which Y C Modi probed as part of the SIT, where he was inducted in 2010 and served until July 2012. 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. As per a Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) notice, the appointments committee of the cabinet approved the appointment of Y C Modi as NIA DG until his retirement on May 31, 2021.

The notice said Modi was being appointed as OSD in NIA with immediate effect “to ensure smooth take over of responsibilities in NIA”. In the CBI, where he was appointed additional director in 2015, 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. Among the key cases investigated under his supervision were the Sheena Bora murder, the Vyapam scam, the Antrix-Devas deal, the Srijan scam and the case against Delhi health minister Satyendra Jain. Before the multi-crore VVIP chopper scam case was handed over to a SIT headed by additional director Rakesh Asthana, it was being probed under the supervision of Y C Modi.