A high-ranking Indian police officer awaiting trial on suspicion of staging extrajudicial killings and passing them off as shootings committed during major terrorism arrests accused political leaders in the state of Gujarat on Tuesday of approving the executions. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/04/world/asia/indian-police-officer-says-leaders-approved-executions.html?ref=world  The officer, D. G. Vanzara, said that two leaders of India’s opposition Bharatiya Janata Party — Narendra Modi, Gujarat’s chief minister, and a lieutenant, Amit Shah — had sanctioned the shootings, then allowed him and 32 other police officers to take the blame.

Mr. Vanzara and nearly three dozen other officials are accused of killing Muslim suspects from 2002 to 2007, then telling the public that the victims were important terrorists killed in “encounters” trying to elude arrest.
Mr. Vanzara said the police officers were carrying out the Gujarat government’s “proactive policy of zero tolerance for terrorism” during a period when Islamic militants threatened Gujarat.

He did not directly acknowledge staging encounters, but said that if the charges were true, “we, being field officers, have simply implemented the conscious policy of this government, which was inspiring, guiding and monitoring our actions.”

Mr. Modi has not been charged in the Vanzara case, but he has long been suspected of having played a role in the 2002 riots in Gujarat, in which nearly 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed. In previous trials, witnesses have testified that Mr. Modi discouraged the police from intervening.

Many of the victims’ families have successful pushed for trials, with some cases reaching the Supreme Court of India.

Mr. Modi presents himself as a pro-business, pro-development candidate.