Virbhadrsinh Samantsinh Gohil was probing the Naroda Gam massacre case from February 28, 2002 to March 7, 2002, as the preliminary investigation officer.
The Supreme Court-appointed SIT had investigated the case, in which former minister Maya Kodnani, former Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi and former VHP leader Jaydeep Patel among others had been accused, as part of the nine major riot cases of 2002 that were being monitored by it.
A special court in Ahmedabad which acquitted all the 67 accused in the Naroda Gam post-Godhra riots case has criticised the probe conducted into it by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed by the Supreme Court, and said the evidence of the prosecution s witnesses was full of contradictions and could not be relied upon.
The court observed that when the probe into the case was handed over to the SIT, the responsibility of its investigation officer became special and the "probe into the case is expected to be such"