The Bhartiya Janata Party on Monday defended Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who did not appear before the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT), asserting that he is "not running away from the law."

"Modi has already said that he will take legal recourse as per the law and such a step is not against the Indian legal system or the constitution," new BJP spokesman Tarun Vijay affirmed at his first Press conference at the party headquarters here.

Modi was served summons to depose before the SIT on Sunday in connection with the killing of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri in the 2002 riots. He, however, did not.

Describing the SIT notice issued to Modi as a conspiracy against him, Tarun remarked: "He is a constitutional head of a state. How can a constitutional head run
away from the constitution?"

The press briefing was specifically called to express concern over the US' "unabated funding" of Pakistan without bothering that its billions will fall in the hands of the anti-India terror groups.