AHMEDABAD: The Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (

) has exonerated chief minister

from the charges of engineering the 2002 anti-Muslims riots in the state and concluded that they were `` a spontaneous reaction’’ to the killing of 59 Ram Sevaks in Godhra on February 27, 2002.

The SIT said there was no link between different incidents of violence in the Godhra carnage aftermath, ruling out the possibility of a larger conspiracy behind the communal violence across the state’s 18 districts in its final report submitted to a metropolitan court on Wednesday. The report is based on a probe carried out on the petition of

widow,

, that alleged a larger conspiracy. Jafri was killed in the Gulbarg Society

during the riots in Ahmedabad on February 28, 2002.

The SIT concluded that it found no evidence to establish the role of the state machinery in the communal carnage, thus exonerating all accused in Zakia’s petition.

The panel’s findings have effectively cleared names of former minister Maya Kodnani, senior VHP leader Jaideep Patel, DySP K G Erda and former

leader Babu Bajrangi.

The report said the four are being tried for their alleged involvement in the rioting incidents. But in connection with Jafri's complaint, none of them have been found guilty of working in association with BJP leaders, the chief minister’s office, police or the VHP.

The SIT concluded that no meetings were held at any level before riots began on February 28, 2002. The SIT’s findings ruling out conspiracy may influence outcomes of ongoing trials in riot cases, since the bulk of fresh evidence will be submitted to those special courts trying the accused in different cases related to 2002 riots.