The Supreme Court on Thursday relieved RK Raghavan, chief of the Special Investigation Team probing the 2002 Gujarat riots, of his duties on health grounds. AK Malhotra, another member of the SIT, will continue to oversee the functioning of the investigation in the riots case.

The bench headed by Chief Justice JS Khehar considered the submission made by senior lawyer Harish Salve to relieve Raghavan from his duty of heading the SIT. Salve is assisting the court as an amicus curiae, PTI reported. The bench also relieved another SIT member K Venkatesam, as he was appointed the Nagpur police chief, reported The Indian Express.

The Supreme Court also appreciated the work being done by the SIT and asked Malhotra to continue filing quarterly progress reports in connection with the violence in the state in 2002 it is probing.

More than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in the riots. The violence had started after Hindu pilgrims were killed when a train was set on fire in Godhra.

The SIT team has been investigating nine major cases of the violence, including the Naroda Gam massacre. Meanwhile, on Wednesday, one of the main accused in the Naroda Gam massacre, Maya Kodnani, was granted permission to examine 14 people as her defence witnesses to prove her innocence, including Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah.