2002 riots: KPS Gill gives clean chit to Modi

"In law and order situations, it is the police leadership which has to respond and not the political leadership," Gill said when asked by reporters about his assessment of Modi's handling of post-Godhra events. He was speaking at the launch of his biography - 'KPS Gill: The Paramount Cop'.

In the book, Gill has lavished praise on Modi saying he had "sincere" intentions to end the violence and accused other parties of trying to defame him. "I realised that people of all political parties who were anti-Modi and anti-BJP were taking advantage of this mayhem and making all efforts to defame Modi one way or the other," he says.

He charged the policemen and the administration had become communal after the incident in Godhra and Modi, who had just become the CM, did not have proper grip over the state machinery. Speaking to reporters, he said that after taking charge as the security advisor of the state, he had visited all places where violence had taken place and policemen from top to bottom refuted having received any direction of the type being mentioned.

He also said a majority of the deaths in the riots had taken place in 5-6 incidents. Addressing the audience, Gill said some of his family members did not like his comments. He told reporters that while his family members had been reading newspapers, he had experienced the developments.

Gill had been appointed in May, 2002, as the security advisor to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to bolster efforts to effectively check communal violence in the state.