New Delhi, Aug. 31: The Supreme Court today issued notices to Gujarat on a mass grave from which 21 skeletons, suspected to be those of Muslims killed during the 2002 riots, were exhumed.

A petition, filed in the apex court on behalf of victims’ families, alleged that the state had buried them “surreptitiously” near Paanam river at Lunawada in Panchmahal district as “unclaimed bodies” without trying to identify them.

The petition also urged the court to direct the state to hand over the remains to the families for a proper burial.

In another petition, before the Nanavati-Shah Commission, the Congress and the Jan Sangharsh Manch, an NGO representing Gujarat riot victims, today asked for chief minister Narendra Modi and former home minister Gordhan Zadafia to be cross-examined.

The state counsel claimed that the state did not have any CD that attempts to prove the collusion between the government and the police during the carnage.

But the Manch furnished its analysis of the CD, which contains cellphone records purportedly showing state ministers were in touch with the accused on February 27 and 28, 2002. The Manch said it had scanned the call details of 37 politicians and police officers.