The violence started after a sleeper coach of the Sabarmati Express was set on fire in Godhra, about 140 km from Ahmedabad, Feb 27, 2002, killing 59 people.

The subsequent sectarian violence across the state killed 1,169 people, most of them Muslims.

Rights organisations have accused the Modi government of bias in handling the situation.

The SIT was formed to investigate select cases of large-scale massacres.