We Forget Our Shame

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Godhra gujarath 2002 mob furry not terror.

Transcript of We Forget Our Shame

Page 1: We Forget Our Shame

First-hand accounts from the men who plotted and executed the genocide in Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Sabarkantha. Mayhem was meticulously planned and carried out by VHP-Bajrang Dal cadres across Muslim localities. READ »

The VHP and the Bajrang Dal manufactured and distributed lethal weapons across the state, often with the connivance of the police. READ »

Shocking accounts of how the guardians of the law colluded with the outlaws to make Gujarat’s horror even worse. READ »

Key BJP, RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal activists speak openly of how Narendra Modi blessed the anti-Muslim pogrom . READ »

How public prosecutors ran with the hare and hunted with the hound, keeping their sympathies strictly for the accused. Government Counsel Arvind Pandya on how he hopes to subvert justice by manipulating the Nanavati-Shah Commission, set up to ascertain the truth. READ »

The truth behind Naroda Patiya, the grisliest massacre of 2002. Ahmedabad police’s collusion in the pogrom and its cover-up. Gory details of how former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri was hacked limb by limb at Gulbarg Society, in the words of those who did it. READ »

How spontaneous mob fury was shown as a premeditated conspiracy by the police who produced fake witnesses by bribing, coercion and torture. READ »

Nov 03, 2007

First-hand accounts from the men who plotted and executed the genocide in Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Sabarkantha. Mayhem was meticulously planned and carried out by VHP-Bajrang Dal cadres across Muslim localities. Overview READ »

A Cold Eclipse There were the cool strategists — leaders, officials, ideologues. And then there were the foot soldiers, who raped, killed and looted. The genocide was clinical READ » Ahmedabad: Carnage Capital In Naroda, Gulbarg, Kalupur and Dariyapur, murderous mobs armed to the teeth obeyed the Sangh Parivar’s every word READ »

Vadodara: Charred City Every Muslim locality was attacked in phases spread over two months. At Best Bakery, 14 people were burnt alive READ »

BABU BAJRANGI ‘After Killing Them, I Felt Like Maharana Pratap’ RAJENDRA VYAS ‘Nanavati Tried To Prove I Was Behind The Riots’ RAMESH DAVE ‘I Got A Call Saying, What’s This? All Of Gujarat Is Sleeping? MADAN CHAWAL ‘They Hacked Him Bit By Bit, Then Burnt Him Alive' PRAHLAD RAJU ‘Parishad People Got Me Out On Bail' MANGILAL JAIN

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Sabarkantha: Nowhere To Run ‘Lock the door from outside and burn the Muslims inside.’ This was the chilling war cry to which the mobs rallied, led by a VHP leader who had vowed to kill 500 Muslims READ »

‘We Dragged Them Out Of Their Houses’ PRAKASH RATHOD & SURESH RICHARD ‘The RSS Will Tell You How Chharas Killed Muslims’ DHIMANT BHATT ‘The Idea Came From Modi Himself’ DEEPAK SHAH ‘It Should Be Something History Has Never Seen’ ANIL PATEL ‘The Smallest Village Wasn’t Spared’

Nov 3, 2007 --

Conspirators & Rioters

Overview

NARENDRA MODI visited Godhra on the day of the burning of coach S-6 of the Sabarmati Express. His outburst provided the first sign to Sangh workers that the time to corner the Muslims had come

THAT VERY NIGHT, top BJP and Sangh leaders met at Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Godhra, and gave the green signal for an all-out assault on Muslims across the state

A STRATEGY was devised on how to shield the attackers from the law after the riots. Prominent lawyers were briefed and senior police officers taken into confidence. The cadres were told Modi was squarely behind them

THE MOBILISATION of the under castes, something the Sangh had been engaged in for years, dovetailed into the deep penetration Hindutva already had among Gujarat’s higher castes. Godhra provided the perfect spark to fuse them together

FROM THE very outset, the police played partisan, often joining the mobs. Officers who tried to do their duty found their hands tied. The complicity was led by then Ahmedabad Commissioner PC Pandey, who ensured compliance by a swathe of junior officers

WEAPONS, FROM BOMBS to guns to trishuls, were either manufactured and distributed by Sangh workers themselves, or smuggled through Sangh channels from all over India. The Bajrang Dal and the VHP already had a large cache of firearms and daggers

BJP AND SANGH LEADERS led the bloodthirsty mobs through Ahmedabad’s bylanes, Sabarkantha’s villages, Vadodara’s localities. The police stood guard to the mayhem

BJP MLA MAYABEN KODNANI drove around Ahmedabad’s Naroda locality all day, directing the mobs. VHP leaders Atul Vaid and Bharat Teli did the same at the Gulbarg Housing Society. None of them ever went to jail

FIRE WAS THE MOST FAVOURED weapon in the rioters’ hands. That cremation is considered un-Islamic fuelled their frenzy to burn. Petrol and kerosene were lavishly used, as were the victims’ own gas cylinders

BABU BAJRANGI reveals he collected 23 revolvers from Hindus in Naroda Patiya. He called VHP general secretary Jaideep Patel 11 times and informed Gordhan Zadaphia, the then minister of state for home, about the death toll

GOVERNMENT COUNSEL before the Nanavati-Shah Commission, Arvind Pandya, himself worships Modi and describes Justice Shah as “our man”. Nanavati’s own report on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots is gathering dust till today

-- Conspirators & Rioters A Cold Eclipse

ASHISH KHETAN There were the cool strategists — leaders, officials, ideologues. And then there were the foot soldiers, who raped, killed and looted. The genocide was clinical

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Photo: Cherian Thomas

THERE WAS no spontaneity to what happened in Gujarat post- Godhra. This was no uncontrived, unplanned, unprompted communal violence. This was a pogrom. This was genocide.

In a planned, coldly strategic manner, Muslim neighbourhoods across both urban and rural Gujarat were targeted. Large sections of Hindus were united under a single objective: to kill Muslims, wherever and by whatever means, preferably by first stabbing and mutilating them, and then by setting on fire what remained, whether dead or alive. During the course of the TEHELKA sting, many accused said they preferred burning Muslims alive over other forms of death since cremation is considered unacceptable in Islam.

For three days after the February 27 fire on the Sabarmati Express at Godhra, Gujarat’s BJP government receded from public view and let the armed mercenaries of Hindu organisations take over. For three days, absolute anarchy reigned. Execution squads were formed, composed of the dedicated cadre of Hindu organisations — the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the Bajrang Dal, the Kisan Sangh, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and the Bharatiya Janata Party. Masjids and dargahs were destroyed across the state. Seventy-three Muslim religious places were torched in Ahmedabad alone, 55 in Sabarkantha, 22 in Vadodara.

The architects of Gujarat’s greatest shame were of two sorts. There were the coolheaded strategists, the conspirators, who plotted the carnage from behind the scenes. And there were the foot soldiers, the members of the saffron army, drugged on the vicious agenda of so-called Hindutva, who went out and looted, raped and killed. On occasion, the planners were also sometimes emboldened to go out and participate in the massacres.

Nov 3, 2007 --

Conspirators & Rioters Ahmedabad: Carnage Capital

ASHISH KHETAN In Naroda, Gulbarg, Kalupur and Dariyapur, murderous mobs armed to the teeth obeyed the Sangh Parivar’s every word

Muslims who had begged police to protect them the day before huddle in the wreckage of their burned out homes in Ahmedabad Photo: Ami Vitale

THE MOST horrifying massacre of the Gujarat riots was the one at Naroda Gaon and Naroda Patiya localities in Ahmedabad. A local Bajrang Dal leader, Babu Bajrangi, was one of the main conspirators. He started planning the massacre soon after the news of the Sabarmati incident broke. Starting in the evening of February 27, firearms and inflammable material were collected; Bajrangi also formed a select team, drawn from the cadre of the VHP and the Bajrang Dal. Members of the Chhara community, a denotified criminal tribe, were also roped in. TEHELKA spoke to two of them, Suresh Richard and Prakash Rathod. Both believed, and were made to believe, that by killing Muslims they were doing a great service to Hinduism.

On February 28, 2002, Bajrangi marshalled a murderous mob through the narrow bylanes of Naroda Patiya and Naroda Gaon. Egging the mob on was also local BJP MLA Mayaben Kodnani, who is also a doctor. Both Richard and Rathod have been recorded on TEHELKA’s spycam saying that Kodnani drove around Naroda all through the day, urging the mob to hunt Muslims down and kill them. Kodnani’s trusted lieutenant, BJP member Bipin Panchal, was also present with his own small band of followers, armed to the teeth. All through the massacre, Bajrangi and VHP state general secretary Jaideep Patel were on the phone with each other. Bajrangi did not reveal whether Patel was also involved in the planning. However, he did say that the death toll was being communicated to Patel at regular intervals. Several survivors from Naroda Gaon have identified Patel as the leader of the Naroda mob.

At the end of the day the total “score” — as Bajrangi chose to term estimates of the number of Muslims killed — in Naroda was well over at least 200. This figure has not been acknowledged by the state government; officially, 105 people were killed at Naroda Patiya and Naroda Gaon. Naroda, however, was far from the only Ahmedabad locality to be turned into a mass incinerator. A few kilometres away, VHP leaders were leading a frenzied mob at Meghaninagar. The target was a

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housing society called Gulbarg, a building inhabited by Muslims.

TEHELKA stung three participants in the carnage — Mangilal Jain, Prahlad Raju and Madan Chawal — all three local petty traders and all three with cases against them for their part in the riots. They said they and other members of the mob had been led by VHP leaders Atul Vaid and Bharat Teli, both of whom were named as accused in the FIR but were subsequently cleared of all charges when the police filed the chargesheet. Chawal gave a graphic description of how he and his accomplices first hacked former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri apart limb from limb, and then made a heap of his body parts, which they set on fire.

The official death toll of the Gulbarg massacre stood at 39, but the accused told TEHELKA that the actual number of those killed was much higher. Apart from the housing society’s residents, the dead also included Muslims who lived in nearby slums who had taken shelter in the building. TEHELKA also spoke to VHP leaders Rajendra Vyas and Ramesh Dave, who planned attacks on Muslims in Kalupur and Dariyapur, among Ahmedabad’s most communally sensitive areas. Ahmedabad city VHP president Rajendra Vyas, who was also in charge of the ill-fated Sabarmati Express, said that on the day of the fire on the train that killed 59 karsevaks, he had told the VHP cadre that “the Muslims had played a one-day match and given us a target of 60 runs. We shall now have to play a test match and we won’t stop until we score 600.”

Vyas, who lives in Kalupur, was recorded on the TEHELKA camera stating that he himself had shot dead five Muslims and had burned down nine Muslim houses. Ramesh Dave was the VHP’s point man in Dariyapur. He said he and his fellow planners had targeted and killed Muslims who had been in their sights for over 20 years — “chun-chun ke maara is baar (we specifically hunted them down)”. Dave also claimed that along with a friend, he had arranged for about 10 small firearms. Nov 3, 2007 -- Conspirators & Rioters Vadodara: Charred City

ASHISH KHETAN Every Muslim locality was attacked in phases spread over two months. At Best Bakery, 14 people were burnt alive

THOUGH NOTHING could be compared to the violence unleashed in Ahmedabad, Muslims in Vadodara — the second largest city in Gujarat — were also assaulted in a phased manner. The first round, which started on February 27 itself, lasted until March 2, with the worst incident taking place on March 1, when 14 persons were burnt alive at the Best Bakery in Hanuman Tekri. Thereafter there was violence between March 15-20 and, following this, between April 25-May 2, with some incidents taking place in the intervening period, especially on March 25.

Almost every major Muslim locality of the city was attacked. Kisanwadi, Sama, Ashabiwi Chawl, Madhavpur II, Makkarpura, Audhootnagar, Raghovpura, Noor Park, Karelibagh, Gotri village, Hajimiyan ka Sara, Hanuman Tekri, Roshannagar, Panigate, Taiwada and Macchipith were among the areas where Hindu mobs went on a rampage. Hundreds of Muslim homes and businesses were looted and torched. In Sama, a relatively new part of Vadodara with a predominantly Hindu population, a mob of around 20 people attacked the residence of Prof JS Bandukwala, a professor of physics at the Maharaja Sayajirao University (MSU) and a respected figure in Vadodara, on the morning of February 28. The mob left after Prof Bandukwala and his daughter managed to take shelter in their Hindu neighbour’s house.

However, on the following day, March 1, a larger mob, armed with gas cylinders among other weaponry, launched a second assault and succeeded in torching Bandukwala’s house. The homes of two other prominent Muslim bureaucrats in the area were burned down. TEHELKA stung a rioter, Dhimant Bhatt, who was in the mob that torched these three homes. Bhatt is an accountant by profession — he is the chief accountant and auditor of MSU — but his real vocation is to inflict damage on Muslims. Besides being a university employee, he also works as a personal assistant to the current Vadodara BJP MP Jayaben Thakkar. Bhatt revealed that on the night of the Sabarmati Express incident, a meeting was convened of Vadodara’s top BJP, RSS, VHP, Bajrang Dal and ABVP functionaries. Bhatt, who is also an RSS member, was present at the meeting, which is where, he says, a strategy of attacking Muslims was outlined. A plan for providing legal assistance to Hindus who may face legal action after the riots was also chalked out at the same meeting.

TEHELKA met another Vadodara BJP leader, Deepak Shah, who not only corroborated what Bhatt told us but also gave the name of the farmhouse where the meeting took place — Narmada Farmhouse. Shah, who is also a member

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of the Syndicate of the MSU, also corroborated what Babu Bajrangi had boasted of in Ahmedabad — that saffron organizations used lower-caste Hindus for carrying out anti-Muslim attacks.

Nov 03, 2007 -- Conspirators & Rioters

Sabarkantha: Nowhere To Run

ASHISH KHETAN 'Lock the door from outside and burn the Muslims inside.’ This was the chilling war cry to which the mobs rallied, led by a VHP leader who had vowed to kill 500 Muslims

Riot victims at a relief camp in Sabarkantha district, 150 kms south of Ahmedabad

THE MAXIMUM economic loss that Muslims suffered was in Sabarkantha district, with hundreds of Muslim houses and businesses razed to the ground. Anil Patel, the VHP vibhag pramukh (departmental chief), was among the key planners of the carnage here. He told TEHELKA that after the Sabarmati incident, he had taken a vow to kill at least 500 Muslims, failing which he would relinquish the VHP office he was holding. “Our war cry was ‘Lock the door from outside and burn the Muslims from the inside’,” Patel told TEHELKA. He also said he had openly urged the VHP and RSS cadres to go out and kill Muslims and burn their properties. There was hardly a village in Sabarkantha where Muslim houses and businesses were not torched, Patel said. A total of 126 Muslim houses were reduced to ashes in Patel’s own village, Dhansura, he revealed.

Patel said there while was no single strategy, the intent was to inflict maximum casualties and damage on Muslims. He also said that Pravin Togadia had been coordinating matters at the district level during the carnage. Patel said Togadia told him to work in such a way so as to ensure that important VHP workers were not booked and sent behind bars. In Sabarkantha, 1,545 houses and 1,237 business of Muslims were torched, and 549 shops were ransacked. Nov 03, 2007

Conspirators & Rioters ‘After Killing Them, I Felt Like Maharana Pratap’

Transcript: BABU BAJRANGI Neither loot nor rape, this Bajrang Dal leader had only murder on his mind

SEPTEMBER 1, 2007 Bajrangi: My role was as follows: I was the first to start the [Naroda] Patiya operation… We and the local residents were all together. Patiya is just half a kilometre away from my home… I had gone to Godhra when it happened… I could not bear what I saw… The next day, we gave them a fitting reply…

TEHELKA: What were you unable to tolerate in Godhra? Bajrangi: Any person who saw the Godhra kaand [massacre] would have felt like just killing them at once, hacking them apart… that’s how it was…

TEHELKA: You were there?

Bajrangi: Yes, yes, I was with them… So the Godhra kaand happened and after what I saw, I just came back to Naroda and we took revenge.

TEHELKA: How could you organize it all in such short time?

Bajrangi: Little time… We organized everything that night itself… We mobilised a team of 29 or 30 people… Those who had guns, we went to them that night itself and told them to give us their guns… If anyone refused, I told them I would shoot them the next day, even if they were Hindu… So people agreed to part with whatever cartridges and guns they had… In this way, we collected 23 guns. But nobody died of gunshots… What happened was this: we chased them and were able to scare them into a huge khadda [pit]. There we surrounded them and finished everything off… Then, at 7 o’clock, we announced…

TEHELKA: This was in Patiya? That’s what it’s called, isn’t it?

Bajrangi: Yes, yes, Patiya.

TEHELKA: Please describe the area.

Bajrangi: In Patiya, there is an ST [State Transport] workshop with a huge wall beside it; next to this wall, Patiya begins… Opposite Patiya, there is a masjid and beside it is a sprawling khadda… That’s where we killed them all… At 7 o’clock, I called the home minister and also Jaideepbhai [Jaideep Patel, VHP general secretary] and told them how many people had been killed and said that things were now in their hands… I don’t know if they did anything, though… At 2.30 in the morning, an FIR was lodged against me… The FIR said I was there… the police commissioner even issued orders to shoot me at sight…

TEHELKA: Who, Narendrabhai? Bajrangi: The commissioner ordered… • • •

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Bajrangi: We and the Chharas carried out the Patiya massacre… After that, we all went to jail… People gave us a lot of money after we were jailed… I am rich, so I have no worries, but the Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders didn’t care for those who were poor and had no money. Even from jail I was telling them [the VHP] to look after their families, do something for the accused. They provided for them for some four to six months, after that all help was stopped… They had promised to fight our cases in court… but till today, nobody has done a thing… Pravinbhai [Togadia, VHP international general secretary] had promised this openly… and he had also said that if there were any problems at their home or any loss [he would take care of them]… but no one knows where they put all the money they collected… Nobody was given any money… for five to seven months, they gave rations, but nothing apart from that…

TEHELKA: You were in touch only with Jaideepbhai?

Bajrangi: Only Jaideep was talking to me from the VHP.

TEHELKA: The day the Muslims were killed…

Bajrangi: I spoke to Jaideepbhai 11 or 12 times… aur humne tabiyat se kaata… Haldighati bana di thi [and we killed at will, turned the place into Haldighati]… And I am proud of it, if I get another chance, I will kill even more…

TEHELKA: Where was Jaideepbhai camping then?

Bajrangi: Jaideepbhai was sitting at Dhanwantri, which is Pravinbhai’s dispensary, he was there… in Bapunagar… There he was and I didn’t even tell him that we were going to do this… In Naroda and Naroda Patiya, we didn’t spare a single Muslim shop, we set everything on fire, we set them on fire and killed them… That’s what we did… Up till then, they didn’t know what was happening; when they got to hear of how many had been killed, they got scared… • • •

Bajrangi: There is a distance of about half a kilometre between Naroda [Patiya] and Naroda Gaon... We did a lot at both places… must have butchered not less than… Then we dumped the corpses into a well… At first, I didn’t talk [This was TEHELKA’s fourth meeting with him.] I thought… Many journalists and all kinds of people and come ask me if I was in the Patiya incident… I tell them I was not involved, I was quite far away admitted in a hospital… • • • TEHELKA: Do you know Gordhan Zadaphia has revolted?… During the Patiya massacre, what did he say when you spoke to him?

Bajrangi: I spoke to Gordhan Zadaphia… I told him everything that had happened… He told me to leave Gujarat and go into hiding… I asked what he meant, but he told me to run away and to not ever say anywhere that we had talked… • • • TEHELKA: Tell us how it was all done… revolvers… cylinders…

Bajrangi: The cylinders were theirs [the Muslims’]… Whichever house we entered, we just grabbed the cylinder and fired at it, and, dhadak, they exploded… We had guns in any case… I can’t tell you what a good time it was… But four of our activists died in it… No hearing took place even in that…

TEHELKA: Did you climb to the top of a masjid and tie a pig there?

Photo: Paras Shah

Bajrangi:We rammed an entire tanker into it… the tanker was fully laden… We rammed that tanker inside…

TEHELKA: It was a petrol tanker, no?

Bajrangi: It was diesel… We drove a whole diesel tanker in and then set [the mosque] on fire…

TEHELKA: Meaning, it was the tanker explosion which set Patiya on fire?

Bajrangi: In the masjid…

TEHELKA: In the masjid…

Bajrangi: As for the rest of it, I was in charge at the time… Whatever I wanted to do, I did…

TEHELKA: At the pit, was oil… Those people had gathered there…

Bajrangi: It was a huge pit… You could enter it from one side but you couldn’t climb out at the other end… They were all there together… They started clinging to each other… Even while they were dying, they told each other, you die too, what are you going to be saved for, you die too… so the number of deaths increased.

TEHELKA: Then people poured oil in…

Bajrangi: Oil and burning tyres…

TEHELKA: Where did the oil come from?

Bajrangi: Oh that… We had lots of material with us… we filled lots of jerrycans in advance… From the petrol pump, the night before… Petrol pump owners gave us petrol and diesel for free… • • • TEHELKA: Muslims were hacked to pieces…

Bajrangi: Hacked, burnt, set on fire, many things were done… many… We believe in setting them on fire because these bastards say they don’t want to be cremated, they’re afraid of it, they say this and that will happen to them… I have just one wish… one last wish…. Let me be sentenced to death… I don’t want to be incarcerated… I don’t care if I’m hanged… Give me two days before my hanging and I will go and have a field day in Juhapura [a Muslim dominated are], where seven or eight lakh of these people stay… I will finish them off … Let a few more of them die… At least 25-50,000 should die…

TEHELKA: How many witnesses have testified against you?

Bajrangi: Fourteen Muslims and 16 policemen… Out of the 14 Muslims, some have moved to Juhapura… They’ve left Patiya, they don’t have the guts to stay there, defying us… The rest have gone to Karnataka… They got money after all, Rs 7 lakh each… Narendrabhai never said how much they would be given… He announced [the compensation package] then gave out cheques of Rs 20,000 each and that’s where things got stuck… Afterwards, he gave nothing to anyone… But then the Central government supported them… • • • TEHELKA: In other words, the way [you] have killed will go down in history.

Bajrangi: Arrey hamari FIR me likha gaya hai… ek woh pregnant thi, usko to humne chir diya thha b*******d sala… Unko dikhaya ki kya hota hai… ki hum log ko tumne maara to hum tumko kya pratikaar de sakte hain… hum khichdi kadhi wale nahin hai [It has been written in my FIR… there was this pregnant woman, I slit her open, sisterf****r… Showed them what’s what… what kind of revenge we can take if our people are killed… I am no feeble rice-eater]… didn’t spare anyone… they shouldn’t even be allowed to breed… I say that even today… Whoever they

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are, women, children, whoever… Nothing to be done with them but cut them down. Thrash them, slash them, burn the bastards… Hindus can be bad… Hindus can be bad, and I’m saying that because, as I see it, Hindus are as wicked as those people are… Many of them wasted time looting… Arrey, [the idea is] don’t keep them alive at all, after that everything is ours…

TEHELKA: And some people also raped…

Bajrangi: No, there were no rapes…

TEHELKA: One or two Chharas may have…

Bajrangi: If some Chharas took some women, that’s a different matter… We were marching in groups… There was no place to rape anyone there… Everyone was on a killing spree… we were killing, hacking… There were lanes where we had to face Muslims… there would be a confrontation, they’d fight back with all their strength…The moment we’d killed a few, we’d move on… In this melée, if some girl was trying to run away and if a Chhara caught her, then that’s another matter… That day, it was like what happened between Pakistan and India… There were bodies everywhere… it was a sight to be seen, but it wasn’t something to be filmed, in case it got into someone’s hands… There was a video-wala there, some mediawala, we set him on fire too… Lots of those miyas [Muslims] deceived us… They’d chant Jai Mata Di and get away... that happened too… they’d put tilaks on their foreheads and shout Jai Shri Ram, Jai Mata Di….

TEHELKA: Tell me how that SRPF [State Reserve Police Force] man saved people?

Bajrangi: There was just one Muslim… some big SRP man… Sayeed…

TEHELKA: He was an officer...

Bajrangi: Yes, he was… All this cutting and killing happened behind the SRP camp… The ones who weren’t in the pit, they ran and got into the SRP compound… The SRP jawans there were driving them away… when the officer came in his vehicle and said take everyone inside… He was in command… an officer… So, lots of people were saved this way… at least 500 were rescued… Otherwise would they have all gone too… The officer was also fired at… He is also a witness against me…

TEHELKA: But then Narendrabhai promoted him and…

Bajrangi: Silenced him… So, there was good work done in Patiya. Today too I am fighting against Muslims and will continue to do so… I have nothing to do with politics… What I say is this: the VHP is an organisation… a Hindu organisation… Our politics should be limited to killing Muslims, beating them up…

TEHELKA: How do you feel after you have killed Muslims…

Bajrangi: Maza aata hai na, saheb [I enjoy it]… I came back after I killed them them, called up the home minister and went to sleep… I felt like Rana Pratap, that I had done something like Maharana Pratap… I’d heard stories about him, but that day I did what he did myself.

Nov 3, 2007 --- Conspirators & Rioters ‘Nanavati Tried To Prove I Was Behind The Riots’

Transcript: RAJENDRA VYAS Vyas was in charge of the karsevaks on the Sabarmati Express. Godhra would remember the lesson, he says

JUNE 8, 2007 Vyas: I was in charge of the train in Godhra…

TEHELKA: Jaideepbhai told me…

Vyas: At that time, people from Aaj Tak had come to me, and I told them this… I said, look, my shoulders are not strong enough to carry the weight of 59 bodies… With deep sorrow, I have to say that we must leave behind those who came with us… We have 300 women with us, that is why we must do this or else we would set all of Godhra on fire… We are not wearing bangles… Anyone who calls himself a Hindu, the young men who have come with us and all the rest in any corner of the world, they must all listen… The Muslims have played a one-day match with us… they have given us a target of 60… we have to win this match at any cost, so don’t stop until you have made 600 runs… This is what I said that day… At that time, Deepak Swaroop was there, the Range officer of Panchmahal, and he told me that what I was doing was not right… that it would not have good consequences… I said so much in the language Muslims use… meaning, I also used some abusive language… Narendrabhai Modi, our chief minister, started laughing… How he has cut them down… It’s because of him that the Muslims from this side… I live in a Muslim area… this house, this wall belongs to a Muslim… so is that… the whole colony belongs to Muslims… Only this two-foot high door belongs to a Hindu… I live here by dadagiri, by force…

TEHELKA: Tell me one thing, you were there with Narendrabhai Modi that day, when the train caught fire in Godhra… What was his first reaction?

Vyas: As chief minister, Narendrabhai couldn’t say ‘Kill all the Muslims’… I could say it publicly because I was from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad… Pravinbhai Togadia can say it… But he [Modi] can’t say it… But it’s like how we say it in Gujarati, Aa khada kaan khada ]to turn a blind eye]… meaning, he gave us a free run to do whatever we wanted since we were already fed up with the Muslims… The police was with us… Please understand what I’m trying to say — the police was on our side, and so was the entire Hindu samaj… Bhai [Modi] was careful about that… or else the police would have been on the other side….

TEHELKA: Yes, if it had been a Congress government…

Vyas: No, what I am saying is… things would have gone the opposite way… that’s why the Nanavati people… interviewed me thrice… called me… recorded my statement… they wanted to prove that the riots took place because of me… because I was in charge of it… I am not one to be scared, let them do what they want…

TEHELKA: When Godhra happened, how did the Hindus unite?

Vyas: Take my case… My daughter- in-law… was brutally attacked… acid was thrown on her, her whole face was burnt… She was hospitalized for 15 days… Look at my house… the iron grills… they tried to set it on fire but we also took revenge… we burnt nine of their houses… How many?

TEHELKA: Nine.

Vyas: And we murdered four of them… that’s how we silenced them… Whatever charges were framed against me… I am not guilty… I proved that it was the police who fired first… we only fired when the police started firing…

TEHELKA: This has become your area now…

Vyas: No, it is only because I am never afraid…

• • •

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Vyas: When the Congress was in power, it was under [Madhavsinh] Solanki in ’85, at that time Hindus took a lot of abuse… communal riots took place regularly for two years… the remote control was then in the hands of the Muslims… Riots would happen whenever there was some money in Muslim homes… they never happened between the 10th and 20th of the month… They’d get their salaries and all on the 10th and that is when the riots used to happen… It happened this way regularly, you can ask anyone… • • • Vyas: When we left here, we had 1,800 people with us… Of them, 300 were women… We had bought tickets for 50 people… the rest travelled in the name of Ram… This is what Laloo Yadav was referring to when he asked what proof there was that all of them were seated in the train… The reason we bought even those 50 tickets was so that if some of the others were caught, we could get them out of trouble and say why have you caught them, they have tickets… When we were returning from Ayodhya… the train stops there for only half an hour… it comes in from Faizabad… at that time, the women were talking about the leaders having it easy, they could walk as they pleased on the platform while the women had to get knocked around in the crowd. So, I told them to… let the women occupy the seats reserved for us and said we would travel in the general class… We went to the general bogie and it was these unfortunate people who died… meaning, it was the S-6 coach that was set ablaze… the one where we had reserved seats… • • • Vyas: We fought there [in Godhra] too… because the train… We took the women off the train… and we formed a cordon around them… Later I said, what are you looking at, go and kill them… So we set the mosque there on fire…

TEHELKA: In Godhra?

Vyas: Our people stabbed three men to death and we also burned down the garage from where they got the oil cans… When the tyres there started bursting… there were tyres there too… it made a noise like a big bomb blast… That was when Deepak Swaroop called in the military police from Baroda… He knew the matter was out of control… He told me that we were doing wrong… I told him to go f**k his mother… what wrong are we doing… can’t you see… you bastard, aren’t you a Hindu… was your father a Muslim… That’s how it was…

Nov 03, 2007 Conspirators & Rioters ‘I Got A Call Saying, What’s This? All Of Gujarat Is Sleeping?

Transcript: RAMESH DAVE Spurred on by Modi’s statement in Godhra, Dave and other VHP men set about picking out targets and killing them one by one

JUNE 12, 2007 Dave: Whatever happened [at Godhra], happened for the best… And, in any case, Rajendrabhai [Vyas] was in charge of the Godhra case…

TEHELKA: He was the incharge of the train…yes…

Dave: I was with him too as the deputy incharge…

TEHELKA: Were you on the train? Dave: No, I didn’t go… I am a diabetic and so I stayed back… Then around 9.30, I got a call from there, informing me of what had happened…

TEHELKA: Rajendrabhai called you up?

Dave: Rajendrabhai called up… he asked me what now… I said don’t worry… I will reach Godhra by 12 o’clock… Then he said there was no need to come to Godhra… some other people were already on their way… but the situation was out of control there and it had to be handled… I told him not to worry… and then he started crying… Rajendrabhai… he said 60 of our people had died… that we were playing a one-day…

TEHELKA: He told me that too…

Dave: One day khelna hai… 600 ko… maine bola koi tension mat lo, bhagwan ki kripa hai, ho jayega jo bhi hone wala hai… phir yahan laashein wagairah laayi… Phir main bhi raat ko gaya… drishya dekh kar bada… [We have to play a one-day… 600 have to be… I told him not to worry, whatever has to be done will be done by God’s grace… later on, the dead were brought here… I also went there that night… the scene was…

TEHELKA: I saw the pictures… in the Vishwa Hindu Parishad office…

Dave: In the office… We went to the office at night… the atmosphere there was very disturbing… everybody had the same reaction… what all of them felt was that [we had taken it] for so many years… Narendrabhai gave us great support at that time…

TEHELKA: What was Narendra Modi’s reaction when he reached Godhra and when he returned?

Dave: In Godhra, he gave a very strong statement… He himself was in a rage… after all, he has been a swayamsevak with the Sangh right from childhood…his anger was such… he himself did not come out into the open then but the police and all had turned totally ineffective at that time… The next day, we took out a funeral procession for the dead at 10.30… from the VHP office… these are things that have never been told… What actually happened was that I got a call at around quarter to eleven saying Rameshbhai what is this… all of Gujarat is sleeping… what is to be done… doesn’t matter… you will get a reaction from my side right now… At quarter to eleven, we went to a spot there… There a shootout took place… from there the whole of Gujarat caught on… but the spot [where it started] was Dariyapur… • • •

Dave: This is Kandhariapur… Hindus are gradually decreasing here… Muslims are more in number…

TEHELKA: They are increasing…

Dave: This is our border… All the area behind this house is his [Abdul Latif ’s]… At the time of the Godhra massacre, rioting started here at around 11 o’clock… We fought here till the next 11 o’clock…

TEHELKA: Was there firing from their side too? Dave: They did not… This time, everyone was on the Hindus’ side… At that time, I was given charge of Madhopura… It is very nearby… there were almost 123 riot-related cases there… Of these, around 15 were under Section 302… you understand this… What happened was, we targeted and killed all those who had been in our sights for the past 20-25 years… • • • Dave: We showed the horrific video we had shot [at Godhra] to people… What happens is… there’s a certain fury… A dormant volcano erupted all of a sudden… Those people did suffer a lot of damage… Our plan was to burn Godhra down to the ground… to burn all these Musalman-wusalmans… but then, to get everyone together here… to handle the situation…

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TEHELKA: And all the VVIPs had also started visiting by then… Was there retaliation in Kalupur?

Dave: Yes we took revenge… to a great extent… meaning zabardast.

TEHELKA: How many were killed?

Dave: Now approximately, here in the interiors, I’d say only around 60-70… But the kind of revenge there was… What these people did in Kalupur and Dariyapur… they have three areas… four areas… Juhapura, Shahpur, Dariyapur and Kalupur… What they would do is they’d riot all over the place, and then they would sneak back here to hide… • • • TEHELKA: I had such an open conversation that Hareshbhai told me… Hareshbhai Bhatt’s factory… how bombs were made in his cracker factory…

Dave: Yes they were made… here then… If we weren’t here, we would be outside… Ghanshyam Patel used to call up people and control everything...

TEHELKA: So when the riots started in Dariyapur and Kalupur, did you people have any weapons or not?

Dave: Some had already come…

TEHELKA: But Hindus don’t keep weapons…

Dave: They don’t have weapons, but our brother got us revolvers and that’s how we would get by… and this is not the age of swords, anyway… So that is all one wants for weapons…

TEHELKA: So how many did he get? Two or three… the stand wala?

Dave: No, they were about 8 or 10 • • • TEHELKA: Can I meet our activists [from the Sangh] who had been jailed but are now released? Just one or two?

Dave: There was one by the name of Yogi… Have you met Harshadbhai… Harshadbhai Giletwala?

TEHELKA: Not yet, Rajendrabhai gave me his name a while ago… but I haven’t met him yet…

Dave: He got burnt in that case… while setting that hotel on fire… He had 75 percent burns…

TEHELKA: Which hotel? Best Bakery is in Baroda…

Dave: No, no, it’s this one…

Dave’s wife: It was a Muslim hotel…

TEHELKA: Was it in Kalupur?

Dave: No no… it is on that side, near Narayan Pura…

TEHELKA: Were some Muslims also killed?

Dave: One died…

TEHELKA: So Harshadbhai sustained 75 percent burns…

Dave: If you meet him now, he looks just the same… He sustained 75 percent injuries… it wasn’t easy saving him… the mrityunjay was chanted one lakh twenty five thousand times… Rs 4-5 lakh were also spent…

TEHELKA: Can I meet someone other than him… Can I meet the person who runs the stand?

Dave: No, he is out of town somewhere… And he won’t talk about it all now… Actually… like he told me, in his business, he has to deal with both Hindus and Muslims…

TEHELKA: Was an FIR lodged against him?

Dave: It was lodged before the riots… It was in a case of the murder of a Muslim, in which he was arrested…

TEHELKA: No, after Godhra…

Dave: No… Not after Godhra… The main ones here… what happened was that nobody fought here… they used to go away from this place… all the bootleggers from Dariyapur and Kalupur used to go elsewhere to fight…

TEHELKA: What was the strategy followed? Was there a fixed strategy or was it like a sort of hit-and run?

Dave: No, the strategy was that the main ones…

TEHELKA: The ones who used to harass… the goons…

Dave: They were the ones in particular whom we had to put straight… This goes on even today…

TEHELKA: Like who? Can I get some names?

Dave: I don’t remember the names of those Muslims… but the ones who were there… they were handpicked and killed one by one. There was one Katki in Madhopura… whenever a riot took place, he was the first to come out… That day we targeted him and killed him. There were two advantages to that… it boosted the morale of the Hindus… and damaged the morale of the Muslims… • • • TEHELKA: Did the Vishwa Hindu Parishad have any meeting the day Godhra happened? Was any strategy planned? Some common strategy must have been made by you people?

Dave: No, it happened but… At that time, the atmosphere was also very volatile… It could have been used for the sangathan… the sangathan has grown because of that… there was a time when…

TEHELKA: No, like the Godhra massacre happened on the 27th… did our leaders, who were there in Ahmedabad that day, get in touch with each other and plan out some strategy?

Dave: It happened…

TEHELKA: Or was it that they couldn’t meet because of the curfew…

Dave: No even if curfew is imposed nowadays, we can go out… There are lanes that let you do that… and even if there aren’t any such, we set out on the roads themselves. Meetings did happen… eight to ten meetings at various places… The strategy was that since we had to take revenge, we should show them at one go and then there would be peace for the next ten or so years…

Nov 03, 2007

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Conspirators & Rioters ‘They Hacked Him Bit By Bit, Then Burnt Him Alive'

Transcript: MADAN CHAWAL This Gulbarg accused was part of the team that kicked former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri to the ground and killed him

JUNE 12, 2007 Chawal: I was there that day… all day, I ran with them… When they brought Jafri saheb, I was standing there itself… they held him down, kicked him in the back… they meant to chop him up…

TEHELKA: Describe it all in detail… Where did it begin?

Chawal: I was at my shop when the VHP people came around 8.30-9 o’clock to get the shops to down shutters. Around 9-9.30, a shop was set ablaze right in front of mine. That’s when I realized it had started…

TEHELKA:Was it a Muslim’s shop?

Chawal: Yes, it was. People started running once it started. Papa told me to close my shop… even though it was my region, my area, and nobody would have said anything even if my shop had stayed open… Nobody spoke when they told them to close the shops… Then I gestured with my hands to say it wouldn’t look nice, it was a matter of religion and hence it was all the more important to close the shops… My father said close it for today, let’s go home… My father, the others, all of us went home…Then around 10.30 or 11, I went out… The moment I did so, I joined the mob… the ruckus continued all the time I was with the crowd… it went on for at least two and a half hours …

TEHELKA: Who was leading the mob?

Chawal: Most people had joined the mob. The moment that shop was set on fire, everyone started gathering there.

TEHELKA:Were the VHP people also part of the mob?

Chawal: All of them.

TEHELKA: Who were there from the VHP?

Chawal: At that time, I didn’t know all the leaders… I never had any contacts since I’m from a business background and I knew people only from that field… Later, though, when I met Atul-bhai, I remembered he was there too…

TEHELKA: Atul Vaid was there…

Chawal: Atul Vaid was there, then there’s one Bharatbhai Teli, he was also there. These boys…these big ones… they came to get me out of jail, it was then that I met them… they would come to the police station… Although they never came to the Central jail… they would look at me when they would come to the station … That was when I began realising that they were also there… And I used to wonder why I had been arrested while their names were dropped… Why didn’t Atul Vaid and Bharat Teli’s names come up when mine did?… I didn’t give it too much importance, though, since these people could have helped me leave jail or do something else for me. That is why I never opened my mouth, never

dropped a word anywhere about these people being there too… nobody ever said anything about it… not even the 40 boys who were inside jail…

TEHELKA: Everybody knew it…

Chawal: They knew it…We would never talk about what exactly happened… In jail, we would say that we didn’t know anything about it… that we’d just been trapped … I was recorded in the first chargesheet as having used kerosene to lit a fire… In that chargesheet I had been shot around 5.30-6.00 in the evening when Erda saheb said…

TEHELKA: Who shot you?

Chawal: Erda saheb said that…that whole region… Didn’t I show you the place?

TEHELKA: Yes.

Chawal: I was just standing around… some eight to 15 people were there near him… We asked, saheb, what are you doing, why are you saving them?

TEHELKA: You said this to Erda…

Chawal: The public… we were eight to 15 people… everyone asked him ‘What are you doing?’

TEHELKA: You asked him where he was taking the Muslims?

Chawal:We asked him where he was taking them… then he told us what he was doing…

TEHELKA: What did he say?

Chawal: He said, do this… when the vehicle [in which the Muslims were] comes this way, our constable [accompanying the vehicle] will run away… set the vehicle on fire… The whole episode will end here itself and there will be no question of framing a case against anyone… Poori picture yahin khatam ho jayegi [it will be “The End” here itself]… When he said this, the Bagri community thought that they were taking people who could turn witness… [they feared] that he might get them in trouble… They started pelting stones at Erda saheb… and when one of them hit him, I ran away. He took out his revolver… he was behind me… he yelled at me and told me stop… When I tried to pull my nephew along with me while I was escaping, he shot at me…

TEHELKA: Erda saheb shot you?… Was it by mistake…

Chawal: It was by mistake… it was shot at my hand… My hand was injured but none of the clinics were open, all of them were closed… All the hospital at that time… Then I went to the Civil Hospital… I wasn’t aware about things like these because I had never been part of anything like this before… That day, I ended up getting my real name written in the hospital records…

TEHELKA: Then how did you kill Jafri that morning?

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Chawal: Jafri…Well, it’s like when those people caught him, I kicked him in the back and they pulled him away… The moment they pulled him away…

TEHELKA: You kicked Jafri?

Chawal: Kicked him…

TEHELKA: He fell down…

Chawal: Gira… woh nahi… khaich... unke haath me tha, na… Paanchchheh jan pakad liye the, phir usko jaise pakad ke khada rakha phir logon mein kisi ne talwar maari… haath kate… haath kaat ke phir pair kaate… phir na sab kaat dala… phir tukde kar ke phir lakda jo lagaye the, lakde uspe rakh ke phir jala daala… zinda jala daala… [Fell down… not that… He was pulled by his hand… Five or six people held him, then someone struck him with a sword… chopped off his hand, then his legs… chopped off all his organs… after cutting him to pieces, they put him on the wood they’d piled and set it on fire… burnt him alive…]

TEHELKA: So when you people were cutting up Jafri’s body, didn’t Erda come to save him?

Chawal: No one did anything… At that time, Erda saheb wasn’t even there… He had gone to Meghaninagar with his vehicle… He didn’t know they were chopping Jafri saheb… All this happened around 1 or 1.30.

TEHELKA: But did the rest of Jafri’s family manage to escape?

Chawal: No they didn’t… His wife was the only one saved… She disguised herself as a Hindu…

TEHELKA: But some of his daughters were saved?

Chawal: Nobody at the place escaped, none of his family… The only ones who did were the ones who weren’t there… His wife said that she was a maid… a Hindu, living in the Patrewali Chawl that is behind… Why do you want to kill me [she said], I’m just a servant. She was dressed like a Hindu… well dressed…

TEHELKA: She escaped because you didn’t recognise her?

Chawal: I had never met her because there was never a need to go and meet them… I never had any relations with them… • • • TEHELKA: How big is Gulbarg society…Do lots of people live there?

Chawal: Lots of them.

TEHELKA: So have people come back to live at this place?

Chawal: Nobody has come back… it’s closed now… it’s like a jail… Nobody came back to it…

TEHELKA: But some people were saved there that evening?…

Chawal: Some 40 people ran away… some of them had left before…

TEHELKA: So how did you enter Gulbarg?

Chawal: People got gas cylinders from their homes… They kept them on the society’s outer walls… then they got pipes from the bakery where bread and so on are made and they opened the cylinders with them. Then they went far and made a khupda [cloth torch] and threw the cylinders at the wall… The cylinders exploded and the wall broke. Then we got inside…

TEHELKA:Was the wall too high?

Chawal: Too much… it was no two ft wall… It must have been around 15-20 feet high…On top of it, there was a barbed wire fence too…

TEHELKA: So the wall broke with just one or two cylinders?

Chawal: Two cylinders… one was thrown there and the other one in the front… The wall would obviously have broken from the cylinders… Cylinders are heavy…

TEHELKA: So the houses inside caught fire?

Chawal: People used the residents’own things to burn their houses… nobody needed to get anything from outside… their own things were used to burn them…

TEHELKA: The same thing happened in Patiya too…

Chawal: The same happened in Patiya…

Nov 03, 2007 Conspirators & Rioters ‘Parishad People Got Me Out On Bail'

Transcript: PRAHLAD RAJU Raju, accused in the Gulbarg case, had to spend six months in jail. But it was quite comfortable, he says

SEPTEMBER 8, 2007 TEHELKA: How many months did you spend in jail?

Prahlad Raju: I was there for six and-a-half months. …

TEHELKA: What help did the VHP provide you with during that time?

Raju: They delivered goods at my home.

TEHELKA: Rations?

Raju: I have two kids. They were in school… I had talked to VHP people who used to come to the courts on hearing dates. They told me there was no need to pay the school fees and that they would talk to the school authorities… They did go to the school, but they didn’t pay the fees… When I came back after six-and-a-half months, I found I had to pay the entire fees for both kids at one go.

TEHELKA: Had they told you they would pay the fees?

Raju: Yeah…they had gone to the school too…

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TEHELKA: Who went there from the VHP?

Raju: Bharatbhai Teli

TEHELKA: Bharatbhai Teli went there… and did nothing.

Raju: Nothing…

TEHELKA: The day this Gulbarg thing happened… were VHP people with you?

Raju: They were… At 8:30, they started from Meghaninagar … They were closing down shops… and banding together… I joined them at 7:30. I was acquainted with Atulbhai…

TEHELKA: Atul Vaid?

Raju: He said everybody was to move together…

TEHELKA: Who said this… Atul Vaid?

Raju: Yes.

TEHELKA: Atul Vaid said this or Bharat Teli?

Raju: Atul Vaid…

TEHELKA: Atul Vaid told you to move together…

Raju: Move together…

TEHELKA: From Meghaninagar ….

Raju: From there, we all moved together…

TEHELKA: Where?

Raju: Towards Gulbarg … We were closing down shops and people were joining us…

TEHELKA: People kept multiplying…

Raju: Kept multiplying …

TEHELKA: What happened after you reached Gulbarg?

Raju: Then the stone pelting started. When the other side started firing at us, we went back to our homes… I used to live in a Muslim locality. I got my kids out.

TEHELKA: You left the kids home?

Raju: It’s the same way from Gulbarg to my house. We were going from the back way… where there is a railway track… I was hit on my leg.

TEHELKA: Your leg was hurt… You were hit by stone?

Raju: No… A charra [small pellet] hit me.

TEHELKA: Then… you left the kids at home…

Raju: After leaving the kids, I went to hospital…

TEHELKA: From there you went to hospital…

Raju: I left the place at one o’ clock…

TEHELKA: The hospital?

Raju: No, the area… I mean Gulbarg… I came back from the Civil Hospital at five. At that time, they were being taken away…

TEHELKA: Dead bodies?

Raju: No… those who survived...

TEHELKA: They were being taken…

Raju: Dead bodies were taken away in the night… first at 11 o’ clock and then a second batch in the morning.

TEHELKA: You didn’t do anything there at that time?

Raju: At that time, there was stone pelting. That was all that happened.

TEHELKA: You were there only during the stone pelting….

Raju: I could not get inside…

TEHELKA: Then who went inside Gulbarg?

Raju: I don’t know who were present inside. But they were not local people.

TEHELKA: They were from outside… but were there any Vishwa Hindu Parishad people?

Raju: Yes…there were …

TEHELKA: Were there any people from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh?

Raju: They were carrying trishuls… Bajrang Dal…

TEHELKA: So it was Bajrang Dal people who went inside?

Raju: [nods his head in confirmation]

TEHELKA: Everybody was carrying a trishul.

Raju: Yeah..Carrying trishuls…

TEHELKA: So… where did the police pick you up from?

Raju: My name was there.

TEHELKA: You were picked up on the second day itself?

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Raju: No, they did not pick me up. There was an inquiry so we left that place. Then I met these people… Chetanbhai Shah [public prosecutor]. He told me to get ready to leave the place for three or four months. He said, leave home for a month. I did that but the Crime Branch people started giving me trouble. Then I got myself arrested. Then they treated me well.

TEHELKA: The Crime Branch…

Raju: People from the Crime Branch behaved very nicely with us. We felt quite at home. Our family members used to come to meet us…

TEHELKA: And did you spend your own money on your bail?

Raju: No, the Parishad people did that.

TEHELKA: Did the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s people bail you out?

Raju: [nods his head in the affirmative] Nineteen people were released simultaneously…

Nov 03, 2007 Conspirators & Rioters ‘We Dragged Them Out Of Their Houses’

Transcript: MANGILAL JAIN Jain joined in the slaughter which began as soon as Inspector Erda told the mob at Gulbarg that it had three hours

SEPTEMBER 8, 2007 TEHELKA: What was the name of that inspector you were talking about.

Mangilal Jain: Erda…

TEHELKA: Erda…what did he do?

Jain: He supported us… The police kept away from public that day.

TEHELKA: Kept away from Muslims?

Jain: Public… kept away from Hindus… They [the police] told us that everything should be finished within 2-3 hours.

TEHELKA: That means they gave you 2-3 hours …

Jain: To finish…

TEHELKA: Finish everything…

Jain: This was happening across all of Ahmedabad. [It was understood] no outsider would come. Even reinforcements weren’t going to come… the forces wouldn’t get there till evening… so all the work should be done.

TEHELKA: He told you to do it all in two to three hours…

Jain: He [Erda] said it and the mob went berserk. Some started looting. Others started killing… Someone dragged a man out and hacked him down and burned him… A lot of this kind of stuff happened…

TEHELKA: So… did only people from the society get killed or were there other Muslims also?

Jain: No sir… people from outside also got killed. There are Muslims living on the streets all around the society… they are poor people… these are rich people [indicating those who lived in Gulbarg society]… These street dwellers are labourers, mechanics and factory workers… Whenever the situation would get tense, Ehsan Jafri would call everyone in. There was a masjid inside… and every year he would arrange for them to be fed. Whenever a riot broke out, all these people would take shelter inside.… He was very capable. He would make just one call and the police would land up. There was always an SRP [State Reserve Police Force] post at this place. So people would feel safe there.

TEHELKA: So that day you were just one of the crowd… raising the slogan of Jai Shri Ram…

Jain: Just chanting Jai Shri Ram was giving people an adrenaline rush. I was there with a lot of friends, sir, Jai Shri Ram.…

TEHELKA: So who were our people who took part in the killing?

Jain: Look, sir... there were a lot of faces whom I didn’t know at all… Bharat Teli, Atul Vaid and many other people were there. They came from far away places like Bapu Nagar and Meghaninagar…

TEHELKA: Bharat Teli and Atul Vaid did a lot of fighting?

Jain: These were the people in groups sir… there were a lot of young people with them… that day, there was a mob of 50,000 people… How could we know who was who? These are the kinds of people who have a lot of exuberance, those who are non-vegetarian. Those are the people who could be so cruel.

TEHELKA: So… how did we chop off these Muslims?

Jain: They were dragged out of their houses. Someone cut them down… another set them ablaze. Fire was already there… petrol.

TEHELKA: So petrol was available…

Jain: Petrol and kerosene were brought… by these people. They came in the vehicles. [They said] Come with us… there is riot… our Hindu brothers are being attacked… come…

TEHELKA: These were our Vishwa Hindu Parishad people?

Jain: Yes… They came in huge numbers… in vehicles… in whatever mode of transport they could get… they surrounded everything and that Lanka was completely destroyed… There were all the people from the neighbourhoods nearby inside… Whoever was seen, was killed. There was a basement… people who took shelter there survived… there were 70-80 of them…

TEHELKA: People hid there?

Jain: Yes, they hid… In the evening, when it was discovered that there were people inside, then they were taken to a safe place… Eighty to ninety people were killed… Ninety must have been killed… but only those whose dead bodies were recovered were reported and could be identified. Many people were reported missing… Jafri’s body could not be recovered. He was burnt… nothing of him was found.

Nov 03, 2007

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Conspirators & Rioters ‘The RSS Will Tell You How Chharas Killed Muslims’

Transcript: PRAKASH RATHOD & SURESH RICHARD The Sangh succeeded in mobilising the under class during the riots. Rathod and Richard proved their worth at Naroda Patiya

AUGUST 12, 2007 TEHELKA: Are some of the Patiya accused still in jail?

Rathod: No, not from Patiya…

TEHELKA: Bipin Panchal [a BJP worker] is still inside, isn’t he?

Rathod: Bipin is out… Only one is in, Shashikant alias Tunia…

TEHELKA: Where does Bipin stay?

Rathod: He used to stay in Krishna Nagar, but now nobody knows…

TEHELKA: He was here that time…

Rathod: He was… All the boys were with him — he was distributing samaan [weapons]...

TEHELKA: Swords etc?… The Chharas rioted with lathis…

Rathod: No, no, some of them had talwars and trishuls… You know that guy Suresh Richard whom you met, he had every kind of weapons except revolvers…

TEHELKA: Enough to distribute?

Rathod: There was this man called Gudda… He is in jail… He had been let out on parole but he ran away, so he’s in jail for that… He killed a lot of people too… He showed great daring…

TEHELKA: Where was Bipin that day?

Rathod:We were all scattered at first… Then came Bipin Panchal… There were lots of people with him… They all entered saying Shri Ram, Shri Ram, they have killed our brothers and now we have to teach them a lesson… When the fires started, the Muslims also gathered…

TEHELKA: The Muslims…

Rathod: Then we beat them and made them run… One or two of them were thrown into [the fire]…

TEHELKA: Suresh Richard was part of the mob…

Rathod: He fought very well, so did Gudda and Naresh Chhara… They were tireless… The Muslims are scared of Richard… Even the police is scared of him… If he wasn’t handicapped, he’d have… • • • TEHELKA: Are all of you happy with the VHP…

Rathod: Who comes here now from the VHP… Only Babu Bajrangi still bothers to find out about us… We got out of jail before he did… Babubhai was the last released… but he used to ask about us even from jail … What sangathan... Our women fought like the Rani of Jhansi… We [the Chharas] went first… The VHP followed us… Nobody could have done what we did… We filled well after well… we burned enough [people] to fill tractors…

Richard: I swear by my children... I swear by the Mata that if we had not been there, at least 30 to 35 Hindus would have been killed… • • • Richard: [On the day of the massacre] we did whatever we did till quite late in the evening… at around 7.30… around 7.15, our Modibhai came… Right here, outside the house… My sisters garlanded him with roses…

TEHELKA: Narendrabhai Modi…

Richard: Narendra Modi… He came with black commandos… got down from his Ambassador car and walked up here…. All my sisters garlanded him… a big man is a big man after all…

TEHELKA: He came out on the road?

Richard: Here, near this house… Then he went this way… Looked at how things were in Naroda…

TEHELKA: The day the Patiya incident happened…

Richard: The same evening…

TEHELKA: February 28…

Richard: 28…

TEHELKA: 2002…

Richard: He went around to all the places… He said our tribe was blessed… He said our mothers were blessed [for bearing us]…

TEHELKA: He came at about 5 o’clock or at 7?

Richard: Around 7 or 7.30… At that time there was no electricity… Everything had been burnt to ashes in the riots… • • •

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Richard:We’d finished burning everything and had returned… That was when the police called us… They said some Muslims were hiding in this sewer… When we went there, we saw their houses had been completely burned down but seven or eight of them had hidden in the gutter… We shut the lid on it… If we’d gone in after them, we might have been in danger… We closed the lid and weighted it down with big boulders… Later, they found eight or ten corpses in there… They’d gone there to save their lives, but... they died of the gases down there… This happened in the evening… the dhamal [killing spree] went till night, till about 8.30…

TEHELKA: So you went in again….

Richard:We were inside… By evening, things had cooled down… We were tired also… After all, a man gets tired out… Hurling stones, beating with pipes, stabbing, all this… The way we came out from inside could only be done by a man of strong heart… • • • Richard: Mayaben was moving around all day in an open jeep…

TEHELKA: On the day of the Patiya massacre…

Richard: [She was saying] Jai Shri Ram, Jai Shri Ram… wearing a saffron headband… She kept raising slogans… She said, carry on with your work, I’m here [to protect you]… She was wearing a white sari and had on a saffron band… I had also tied on a saffron band… • • • Richard: Batteries were burning… gas cylinders were burning…. Some pigs were sleeping under a truck…. We killed a pig, four or five of us Chharas got together and killed the pig… Then we hung the pig up from the mosque and raised a saffron flag… Eight or 10 of us climbed on top… We tried hard but the masjid didn’t break… • • • Richard: One of our brothers brought a tanker… from Thakar Nagar crossroad…. He’d killed Muslims and brought the tanker. It was put in reverse and the mosque was broken… [It burst] like water out of a fire engine... Petrol was thrown and then it was burnt…

TEHELKA: who brought the tanker?

Richard: A brother brought it...

TEHELKA: From the VHP...

Richard: Not that… He was a Hindu brother… Those who were inside… they were all finished …

TEHELKA: It is being said the Chharas also committed rapes…

Richard: Now look, one thing is true… bhookhe ghuse to koi na koi to phal khayega, na [when thousands of hungry men go in, they will eat some fruit or the other, no]… Aise bhi, phal ko kuchal ke phek denge [in any case, the fruit are going to be crushed and thrown away]... Look, I’m not telling lies… Mata is before me [gesturing to an image of a deity]… Many Muslim girls were being killed and burnt to death anyway, some people must have helped themselves to the fruit…

TEHELKA: There must have been a couple of rapes…

Richard: Might even have been more… then there were the rest of our brothers, our Hindu brothers, VHP people and RSS people… Anyone could have helped themselves… who wouldn’t, when there’s fruit?… The more you harm them, the less it is… I really hate them… don’t want to spare them… Look, my wife is sitting here but let me say…the fruit was there so it had to be eaten… I also ate… I also ate… I ate once

TEHELKA: Just once?

Richard: Just once… then I had to go killing again… [turns to relative Prakash Rathod and talks about the girl he had raped and killed]… That scrap-dealer’s girl, Naseemo… Naseemo that juicy plump one… I got on top…

TEHELKA: You got on top of her…

Richard: Yes, properly…

TEHELKA: She didn’t survive, did she?

Richard: No, then I pulped her… Made her into a pickle… • • • Richard: Today, I will say something... If you have a child and I put him into the fire… your soul will burn, won’t it... Those who survived have called me the cripple who burnt their children… Some survived…by putting a tika on their foreheads… or by hiding in a hut…

TEHELKA: Passing off as Hindus…

Richard: A crowd came saying Jai Shri Ram… but we knew who was from which community… So then we killed them, ask the RSS and Bajrang Dal people… they will tell you that the Chharas were picking out the Muslims and killing them… marking them down one by one … Nov 03, 2007 Conspirators & Rioters ‘The Idea Came From Modi Himself’

Transcript: DHIMANT BHATT The chief auditor of MS University, Bhatt reveals the minute planning and mobilisation that went into the attacks

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MAY 19, 2007 Dhimant Bhatt: I have two charges… I am chief auditor for the entire university [MSU] as well as chief accounts officer… this is a financial matter… everybody needs funds… this is why it is hectic… I am a staunch Hindu… suppose somebody from the Sangh says we have to promote Hindu fundamentalism, I will be the first to volunteer… I will go and say, brothers, put the Sangh’s lathis aside and pick up AK-56s … pick up AK-56s because if you have to develop Hinduism, it is clear who the enemies are… There are two who are against Hinduism… Muslims, who are open… but the Christians… they are like a bacterial virus … and there’s a third, the Communists, who are developing now… red waale… If you have to fight them, you need power and that power will not come from the lathi… only the bullet will do… we go to RSS shakhas … pick up the lathi and use it… All that is fine but now they should be replaced with AKs and a Hindu brigade should be formed… • • • Bhatt: After Godhra, there was this reaction and a certain climate was created in the Parivar by the top leaders, meaning the RSS, the VHP, the Bajrang Dal, the BJP and the Durga Vahini… and in that we had Narendra Modi’s support… Let people say what they like, [we had] support in the sense that if Hindus are going to be burnt like this… if conspiracies are going to be hatched to burn Hindus… they wanted to burn the whole train [the Sabarmati Express]… and now if we don’t do anything, if we don’t generate an adequate reaction, another train will be set on fire…. This was the idea, the thought that came from him [Modi]… I was present in the meeting…

TEHELKA: Where, sir…

Bhatt: It was held in Baroda itself…at a secret place…

TEHELKA: After Godhra …

Bhatt: Immediately after. The same day as Godhra… there were two meetings, one at Ahmedabad and one at Baroda… on what action we were to take… everybody was present … the BJP, the RSS, the Parishad… it was decided that we would not take this any longer… if we have the guts, we should react… so everyone felt, unanimously, that since we didn’t want to be on the defensive, we should start that night itself…

TEHELKA:Was this a meeting of the top leadership or of local leaders or of the ground workers?

Bhatt: Actually it was the local leaders… The message came from the top leaders… the local leaders implemented it and the workers spread it…

TEHELKA: So how many people were present at that meeting?

Bhatt: About 65 to 70.

TEHELKA: 65 to 70?

Bhatt: All key persons of Baroda.

TEHELKA: From different saffron organisations?

Bhatt: In Ahmedabad, there were two persons… I won’t tell you the place… that is secret… it is the Parivar’s… In Ahmedabad, the party has a farmhouse… we started… supplying everything… made a plan… If the police makes arrests, then [we were to secure] the release [of those in custody]. That night, we sat up and made a panel of advocates… If Hindus were injured, then how to take them to hospitals… how we were to help… We made the whole plan… to start a Hindu jehad… we were successful in Gujarat… We were thinking what should we do… so we got three-foot long iron rods… iron bars, and if the cadre was from the Bajrang Dal, then trishuls… In other words, we made a plan and supplied the samaan [weapons]… it was very necessary… After we supplied the samaan, the Hindus got very motivated… Until Godhra happened, the upper castes would never come out… Baniyas… Patels… they would never come out… But we mobilised them… told them that we had prepared teams from the police and amongst advocates… that if they went to jail, we would get them released…

TEHELKA: And that strategy worked…

Bhatt: That strategy worked very nicely… in my [housing] society, even the women started coming out… Then we devised a strategy of alerting everyone… There used to be curfew after dark, so I would come out at night and clank some utensils — tan tan tan — I did that at two in the morning and within minutes, 500 people had gathered with their lathis asking, what is it, what is it… this awareness had been created in Baroda… and it was same in Godhra and in Ahmedabad…

TEHELKA: Baroda and Ahmedabad were spearheading this campaign…

Bhatt: Then in my area… have you heard of the name Bandukwala?…

TEHELKA: The professor…

Bhatt: He’s retired… he is a Muslim… He is a Bohra Muslim… a doctor in physics, a man of science… Among Muslims, the educated ones are more fundamentalist… And among Hindus, the educated ones are more liberal…

Bhatt: Bandukwala is now retired from university service… so now he is free… He is running some organisation…

TEHELKA: But during the riots, did he organise some mob?

Bhatt: During the riots… His bungalow was just in front of my society… exactly in front of my society… We burnt his bungalow down completely… just broke it down and burnt it… He ran away and after that we damaged it quite a bit… A lot of Hindus gathered there… There was another government officer called Peerzada… He was also in my area… We burnt his house too… I am telling you very openly… even an FIR was lodged… See, we have done this, so we have done it… We have no regrets, we did it for the Hindus… We started the toofan [the riots] from Baroda, from Shama Road… Panigate… Mandwi… Merani … these are the most sensitive areas… This Peerzada…he was development officer in the panchayat [department] of the government of Gujarat... He was also this type, educated…. He also ran away… Then there was another man in the GSFC… he was also educated, a chemical engineer… We got him to leave too… Because of the Hindu resurgence that has taken place… after Godhra… Hindus have started keeping weapons at home… Their morale has got a boost…

TEHELKA: The Hindus are riding high on confidence …

Bhatt: There is now pride in being a Hindu… Hindus are feeling a sense of pride and the upper castes too have come out now in support of the Parivar… Nov 03, 2007 Conspirators & Rioters ‘It Should Be Something History Has Never Seen’

Transcript: DEEPAK SHAH A senior Vadodara BJP leader reveals how ‘revenge’ was planned the very day of the Sabarmati Express incident

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MAY 20, 2007 TEHELKA: What time did you reach Baroda [from Godhra]?…

Deepak Shah:We got there at about three, four o clock…

TEHELKA: After admitting the injured to hospital …

Shah:We had gone with a big ambulance… went straight to the hospital… got them admitted… Then we met the Godhra MP, Gopal Singh … met the train collector also… The directives were clearly given to the police… to the MP also … the directives were very clear… that no Hindu is to be arrested now… catch all the Muslims… don’t talk to us about balance… “balance” is something we’ll do later… Just take the force now and teach them a lesson…

TEHELKA: In Godhra?

Shah:We went to a lot of places… Everybody’s views were zabardast [fierce]... Jaideepbhai from the VHP was also there… All our workers had gathered on the road… there was tremendous fury… They seemed to have made up their minds then itself that this time they were not going to spare the Muslims… When we reached Baroda too, it was a curfew-like situation because everyone had come to know through the media of the terrible incident that had happened… The anger was so spontaneous… that even on the way, wherever there was a Muslim shop or house, it was burnt …

TEHELKA: How was it all organised…

Shah: For the next two days in Baroda, everyone just targeted… whoever they could… as many as possible… even in remote areas like Manzarpur... Areas like Alkapuri and Gotri have never even seen stonepelting... such areas which have no history whatsoever of riots… in those areas, people selectively targeted all the Muslim shops and burnt them …

TEHELKA:Were you at the meeting held in Baroda that night?

Shah: Yes… I went for that meeting too… The general sentiment was that if we did not retaliate even after such a big incident and if we just backed down quietly, then they would be encouraged to spread terror… They can do anything… First we gave a bandh call…

TEHELKA: Only VHP people attended the meeting….

Shah: No, no, everybody was there…There were people from the Sangh Parivar… from the Sangathan… the Mandal … you know, people who participate in any big event organized by the VHP… All the youth wings were also invited…

TEHELKA: Fifty to sixty people were there in the meeting …

Shah: The number was higher… around 100–150

TEHELKA: Like in Ahmedabad, where the meeting was held at some guesthouse…

Shah: Yes, it was held here at the Narmada guest house …

TEHELKA: Narmada guesthouse… Did anyone spell out anything specific?

Shah: Everyone expressed their views… [the view was] itihaas me kabhi sakshi na ho aisa hona chahiye [it should be something history has not witnessed)…

TEHELKA: Dhimantbhai was telling me about the strategy… about constituting a team of lawyers …

Shah: Correct… because the police will conduct an inquiry… So [we had to think of] what we would do to protect our people…

TEHELKA: So who were there in the legal team?

Shah: Sanjaybhai Joshi was there… Neeraj Jain was there...

TEHELKA: Rajendra Trivedi was there?

Shah: Rajendra Trivedi was there… Pankaj Chabar …Tushar Vyas…

TEHELKA: Who was used in the attack?

Shah: There are warring communities… the Kharvas… the Baakris… They always come forward at such times… They are meat-eating people … they have the tools and they usually lead from the front… So they were channelised … There were Kahars… A lot of Rabaris were there this time… Bhadris, Parmars and Marathi-speaking people, who have a lot of passion…

TEHELKA: Dhimantbhai was telling me that a peace committee was formed just to mislead everyone, and that committee moulded rods and pipes and distributed them…

Shah: Whatever was needed was given… After all, it was a battle for faith…

Nov 03, 2007 Conspirators & Rioters ‘The Smallest Village Wasn’t Spared’

Transcript: ANIL PATEL VHP leader Anil Patel says even Congress workers joined in the attacks, and that senior police officers were very helpful

JUNE 13, 2007 Anil Patel: You ask me questions and I will answer…

TEHELKA: I don’t know much about this area…

Patel: Let me tell you about this district, Sabarkantha. The maximum number of FIRs were filed here, after Godhra. I know because I handled all the cases on behalf of the VHP. There were 40 murders, 60 murders here…

TEHELKA: In Dhansura alone?

Patel: No, in Sabarkantha. All of Sabarkantha. As for setting villages ablaze, even the smallest one was not spared… Not even one Muslim home was spared in the entire district. At nine in the morning on February 27, I got to know that the

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train had been burnt but when I saw it on TV, I realised it was a big incident and that there would be a big reaction… Then a message came from the state office saying that the next day a bandh would be observed… Then I met a friend who asked me how we would respond

TEHELKA:Was he a Muslim?

Patel: No, he’s Hindu… I told him that the entire world would watch what we would do the next day. At 10 that night, I received a call from the [VHP] office asking me to identify the bodies of the 16 karsevaks who belonged to my district. I was asked to inform their families and arrange for the bodies to be taken to their homes. The first reaction to Godhra happened from my district, from village Badgaon near Dhansura. The stabbing that happened at Baroda railway station… that was carried out by a worker from Badgaon. Then there was a stabbing at Anand station — that was also done by one of our cadres with a trishul. And when our activists returned, they took an oath at the main square that the next day itself, they would give a befitting reply.

TEHELKA:Were only the Parishad workers present?

Patel: No, the entire Hindu community had got together. Even the Congress joined us. The BJP was also there. Some Congress supporters — every village has four or five — were not with us and were busy trying to protect the Muslims. There was an MLA, Haribhai Patel — he has expired since — who tried to protect the Muslims. There was another guy, Jagrobhai Mistri, a very rich man, who was also trying to save the Muslims… There was this other incident when the violence was going on… The photos of a nude girl were found in the house of a Muslim, Bapu Hajim… they were of one of our Hindu girls… fully naked… the girl was naked and so was Hajim… We found six or seven photos like this… We showed them to Haribhai and told him, look at what the Muslim is doing… He got up and walked away.

TEHELKA: Hari of the Congress…

Patel: Yes… There is also one Arvind Jai Singh here… he also… Muslims…

TEHELKA: How were the activists motivated?

Patel: The incident was being repeated on TV. The killing of the karsevaks was being played and replayed [throughout the day]. All of us, including the Congressmen felt that we [Hindus] had been attacked. They did everything alongside us, even triggered the bomb to demolish the mosque …

TEHELKA: A masjid was demolished in Dhansura

Patel: One maulvi was killed. The mosque was destroyed. There was only one mosque here.

TEHELKA: The maulvi was burnt…

Patel: Hmm...

TEHELKA:Was he burnt alive?

Patel: No, they took him away… [makes a gesture of beheading someone]

TEHELKA: With a sword…

Patel: No, with an axe… After I visited the hospital [where the karsevaks’ bodies had been kept] and returned at four in the morning, I had decided that if there were no reaction that day, then I would leave the VHP.

TEHELKA: Yes… it had become a question of prestige…

Patel: I would not work unless 500 Muslims were killed… After everything was over, I thought to myself that others too had thought like me… At that time, I decided that the responsibility of hitting back was ours. They burnt our sisters and brothers, they too would be burnt alive…

TEHELKA: Children too?

Patel: Lock them indoors and just set them on fire… Kill the entire family. We’ll take care of whatever happens after that… Bolt the doors so no one can escape. I said, we will take responsibility for whatever happens afterwards…

TEHELKA: So houses were burnt here in Dhansura…

Patel: Many… there were 126 properties in Dhansura… they were all destroyed. In the entire district, there was only one village where 75 percent Muslims didn’t return…

TEHELKA: Didn’t return… • • • TEHELKA: In Ahmedabad, bombs were made in Hareshbhai’s own factory. How did it work here? Patel: There are a lot of boring industries here, because of which dynamite is available… Then, we also had some experts. They made [explosives] and supplied them to Ahmedabad as well…

TEHELKA: Ahmedabad? Patel:We supplied from here also • • •

Patel: During the day, I had said, do something, but I wasn’t sure

TEHELKA: Not sure?

Patel: I was very tired… mental tension… there were so many phone calls coming. At about 1, I got a call saying that about 2,500 people had gathered at Bayad road…

TEHELKA: Bayad road?

Patel: So I went to Bayad and told them that our people had been burnt to death and they were now to do whatever they wanted. Go to the villages and kill. After that, 30 incidents happened. From Bayad, I came to Dhansura and Dhansura was also up in flames. The arson was initiated by our workers but gradually everyone joined in… Some were opposed. Like Congress guys Praful… Sangram Singh in Modasa… Munnabhai in Sathamba… They tried to save [the Muslims]. The Congress guys tried to protest, but the majority were with us…

TEHELKA: The majority were with you. Any activists who were in the forefront?

Patel: The activists did everything... They killed, they hacked …

TEHELKA: Did [DSP] Solanki lend full support…

Patel: [mumbles a name]

TEHELKA: Who?

Patel: Someone called Mansoori, who was a SIMI sympathiser…

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TEHELKA: SIMI is a terrorist organisation….

Patel: He [Mansoori] was a vegetable vendor. He was hacked to death… At night, I got a call from Arvindbhai Soni, our co-minister, saying this incident has happened. I asked him if he was at the spot and he said no, but some Bajrang Dal brothers were there. I told him to stay at some safe place and to be cautious. The next morning I got to know that Arvindbhai had been arrested… I went to Biloda and called the DSP [District Superintendent of Police] … Both Jayantibhai and I went to meet the DSP and he said he’d release Arvindbhai... Everything was there on paper, in the arrest report, but when Arvindbhai was to be transferred to judicial custody, he was told to go back to the [VHP] office...

TEHELKA: Go to the office…

Patel: He stayed in the office for a month and a half… • • • TEHELKA: The main contribution was the VHP’s and the Bajrang Dal’s…

Patel: I and the Sangh did a lot… the Sangh did it without being asked… Many Sangh workers also went to jail… There is a village nearby called Sathambha… the taluk executive was booked under Section 302 [IPC]… there is still a case against him in Modasa for killing a Muslim woman… There is Amrudhbhai… he also did a lot of good work… he is the taluk executive

TEHELKA: What’s his name?

Patel: Amrudhbhai Prajapati…

TEHELKA: Is he still in jail?…

Patel: He is out on bail now…

TEHELKA: He is from the Sangh?

Patel: He is VHP President, district Modasa. Another man, Ashokbhai Patel, he also went to jail…

TEHELKA: He is also from the VHP…

Patel: Yes, from the VHP... A lot of people tried their best to get me booked too, but ND Solanki, Arvindbhai Brahmbhat and Pravinbhai Togadia and the caution I exercised [saved me]… Later on, I looked after everybody in jail and organised their food and looked after their cases… • • • Patel: Strategy… there was no strategy as such… The main thing was to give a befitting retaliation, to harm as many Muslims as possible, in whatever manner… by burning them, killing them… Educated activists knew what was to be done… but the public felt that even breaking a door meant furthering the cause of Hindutva…

TEHELKA: Muslims were killed in Dhansura…

Patel: The maulvi was killed…

TEHELKA: You were in-charge of the entire district?

Patel: I was looking after three four taluks… Dhansura, Bayad, Meghraj, Maalpur, Modasa…

TEHELKA: How many Muslims were killed in these taluks?

Patel: More than 30...

TEHELKA: Some are missing as well…

Patel: In Bayad, they are missing … 60 drivers from Modasa never came back…

TEHELKA: Truck drivers…

Patel: From Mumbai… • • • Patel: Our Pravinbhai Togadia… did it at the district level…

TEHELKA: Did you speak to him?

Patel: Yes...

TEHELKA: Then during the riots…

Patel: Be careful with whatever you do. He told me about the cases also… that the main workers should not be jailed… because it would affect the morale of the workers… that it’s okay if the goonda elements were booked because we would be able to bail them out… But our main workers were not to get booked… this is what he told me… They were booked, though. Amrudhbhai got [Section] 302… The Modasa district president was also charged… It’s like this… I felt that several people went to jail even after the events… • • • Patel: Modasa was one village in which the Muslims had the upper hand over Hindus... They had attacked one of our Bajrang Dal associates… Later some 60-70 Muslim shops were burnt… But after Godhra, we stayed on top of them…

Nov 03, 2007

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The VHP and the Bajrang Dal manufactured and distributed lethal weapons across the state, often with the connivance of the police.

Overview READ » Terror’s Proud Merchants The VHP and the Bajrang Dal in Gujarat were indistinguishable from terror outfits, manufacturing and distributing bombs, rocket launchers and firearms across the state READ »

HARESH BHATT ‘We Made A Complete Rocket Launcher Here’ DHAWAL JAYANTI PATEL ‘Bombs Were Useful In Close Encounters’ ANIL PATEL ‘Explosives Experts Helped Make The Bombs’

Nov 03, 2007 -- The Bomb Makers Overview

HARESH BHATT, who was the Bajrang Dal rashtriya sah sanyojak in 2002 and is now the BJP MLA from Godhra, till the riots a Congress stronghold, made a never-before admission that bombs were made at a firecracker factory he owned. He describes how they assembled country-made explosives, including rocket launchers. These were then distributed to murderous mobs in Ahmedabad

IN 2002, despite curfew in Ahmedabad, swords were brought in from Punjab and country pistols from UP, Bihar and MP. Bhatt boasts that none of these states were under BJP rule then. The consignment of arms crossed the borders not once but many times. “There were tens and tens of them,” Bhatt reveals

IN AN UNRELATED but crucial disclosure, Bhatt says that he trained 40 young men who then went on to demolish the Babri Masjid in December 1992. He trained them like the army does, and ran obstacle courses for them and taught them how to climb a 30-ft rope. The camp still exists in Ahmedabad

DHAWAL JAYANTI PATEL of the VHP used dynamite in his quarries in Sabarkantha. With the help of an old RSS hand, Amrudh Patel, who was an expert in handling explosives, bombs were made in the quarries using dynamite and RDX-based powder

ANIL PATEL, the VHP Vibhag pramukh, talks of how explosives were made in Sabarkantha and then supplied to Ahmedabad

Nov 03, 2007 -- The Bombmakers Terror’s Proud Merchants

ASHISH KHETAN The VHP and the Bajrang Dal in Gujarat were indistinguishable from terror outfits, manufacturing and distributing bombs, rocket launchers and firearms across the state

Paras Shah

THE VISHWA Hindu Parishad (VHP) and its so-called youth wing, the Bajrang Dal, were the major groups involved in the massacre of Muslims in Gujarat in 2002. Though civil society groups and human rights activists have been vocal about the role of these outfits all through the genocide, only a few of their members have been implicated on charges of murder and rioting. Babu Bajrangi, a Bajrang Dal zealot, is among the few facing trial for their role in the massacre. By and large, most rioters from the VHP and Bajrang Dal, particularly its top leadership, walked away with blood on their hands. It’s not difficult to see why. The Bajrang Dal and the VHP are nothing but extensions of the BJP, which was in power in the state at the time and also led the coalition government at the Centre. During the investigation, TEHELKA found out how leaders of the VHP and the Bajrang Dal had planned the pogrom. To execute their plan “effectively”, they required military hardware, they required weapons more sophisticated and lethal than swords, knives and tridents, arms better suited to hand-to-hand combat. They needed an arsenal that could kill in large

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numbers. The TEHELKA investigation found that the VHP and the Bajrang Dal had transformed themselves into terror outfits that manufactured and distributed bombs, rocket launchers and firearms in large quantities after the Godhra incident. This weaponry was then handed over to murderous mobs across Gujarat.

Nov 03, 2007 -- The Bomb Makers

‘We Made A Complete Rocket Launcher Here’ Transcript: HARESH BHATT The Godhra MLA reveals how his firecracker factory made bombs that were then smuggled across the state

JUNE 1, 2007

Haresh Bhatt: Get rid of their lathis… teach them [the RSS] to use guns… Bajrang Dal members undergo arms training… I am the first in the whole country to run a warg [training module]… I formed the first warg in Gujarat in 1987… with seven young men… TEHELKA: In ’87?

Bhatt: Yes, in ’87…The [Babri Masjid] demolition that happenedlater, I gave training for that too… Forty young men from across the country were brought here… I also trained Bajrang Dal activists here in Sarkhej, which created a ruckus later… Rajesh Pilot even said in the Lok Sabha that training was being given in Sarkhej... training in demolition… TEHELKA: You mean of the Babri Masjid..

Bhatt: Yes. The training to demolish the Babri Masjid was given in Sarkhej in Ahmedabad. TEHELKA: So Pilot raised this question…

Bhatt: Yes… And a CBI inquiry and all… went on here… TEHELKA: Against you?

Bhatt: Me… against the instructorshere... all of them. TEHELKA: Okay.

Bhatt: The training centre still exists…At the start, we gave them the same training they give in the army… judo, karate… rifle shooting… obstacle courses like in the army… how to climb a 30-ft rope… bungee jumping… how to leap from one wall to another… all this in a 15-day training session… It still goes on… One session has just ended… • • • TEHELKA: When Godhra happened in 2002… now, Hindus hardly ever keep arms… so how then did they get weapons?…

Bhatt: I have my own gun factory… I used to make firecrackers… We made all the bombs there… Diesel bombs, pipe bombs, we made them there… and we used to

Haresh Bhatt

Death worship Bhatt with the VHP’s Pravin Togadia

distribute them from there as well… We ordered two truckloads of swords from Punjab… right here, in a village called Dhariya, we readied everything there… and then we distributed the samaan [arms]… At that time, the only thing was that the samaan was needed… TEHELKA: Where did you get the arms from?

Bhatt:We got many country-made pistols… from MP, from UP… we got pistols from everywhere and I distributed them from here… I am talking about this for the first time… nobody knew this secret. TEHELKA: I know that Hindus do not keep weapons, apart perhaps fromkitchen knives…

Bhatt:We distributed so many weapons that people were shocked to see how many there were… We would make them here and then test them... We made a complete launcher inside a pipe, right here in the factory... It was a launcher from the side and had piping over that… chaar ki pipe lagaate the… after closing the entire hole we filled that with shrapnel and nails... and beneath that placed a 595 bomb… We’d set it off… it would go through a wall nine inches thick… • • •

TEHELKA: Hareshbhai, you were saying that you got arms from Kanpur, but there was curfew…

Bhatt: Why couldn’t they have been brought?… Anything can be brought. TEHELKA: I was thinking that if curfew…

Bhatt: I got them from MP… I got them from Bihar. TEHELKA: But how, when curfew was in force?

Bhatt: Things come, everything can come. TEHELKA: If it came from other states, it had to cross borders…

Bhatt: That’s it… they would smuggle it… and it wasn’t just one trip that came for me… there were scores of them. TEHELKA: Our government wasn’t even in power in Kanpur then…

Bhatt: No we weren’t… Nor werewe ruling in MP. TEHELKA: Not even in MP…

Bhatt: Not in MP… not in UP… not even in Bihar... TEHELKA: So how could these consignments come?

Bhatt: Don’t ask me all this. TEHELKA: But they did come…

Bhatt: Yes, they definitely came…You can ask [VHP treasurer] Rohitbhai… [about] the arrangements that were made… So many of our Hindus were dying, what was done?… These are the questions you should be asking… TEHELKA: So only swords were brought…

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Bhatt: No, he’ll tell you everything… I told you we made launchers… launchers with stands and with pipes this thick… in factories… We went to test them… TEHELKA: You mean the rocketlaunchers…

Bhatt: Yes… we’d fill them with gunpowder… first fill them, close them, then light a 595 local-made to blast it all… TEHELKA:Were these ever used?

Bhatt: So much was used in the border areas, that they were astonished at how it had all been transported. TEHELKA:Were they used in Ahmedabad?

Bhatt: Yes... Ahmedabad… Rohitbhai will tell you…

Nov 03, 2007 The Bomb Makers

‘Bombs Were Useful In Close Encounters’ Transcript: DHAWAL JAYANTI PATEL The VHP’s Sabarkantha zila sanyojak, who owns a quarry in the area, shares recipes from his home-grown bomb factory

JUNE 13, 2007

TEHELKA: I had a long meeting with Anilbhai, who spoke very openly. He told me about the dynamite… Is there a mine here? Patel: There is, right here.

TEHELKA:Were bombs made here? Patel: Everything went from here itself… See, blasting stones is our work anyway... We get material for blasting… we can use it easily.

TEHELKA: Dynamite?… Patel: Meaning, our work is to blast stones and we blast stones with that…

TEHELKA: With dynamite?… So how many bombs were made at that time [in 2002]? Patel: Lots of bombs… lots of desi bombs were made and sent…

TEHELKA: A thousand? Two thousand? Patel: They were useful in the galis, in face-to-face encounters… Juhapura… Kalupur… the half-Hindu areas. TEHELKA: So you had some bombmaking experts here at that time? Patel: Yes, yes… There is one Amrudhbhai Patel… TEHELKA: He made the bombs? Patel: He taught us… he was in jail earlier…

Dhawal Jayanti Patel

TEHELKA: Is he from the Sangh… Patel: He is from the RSS … He is quite old… and was in jail in 1989 for making bombs....

TEHELKA:Would you show me how they are made? [Dhawal tells his men in Gujarati to bring bombmaking material]... Patel: Stones are blasted… the stones are stuffed [with dynamite] and blasted apart. The ground breaks with the impact, so imagine what it will do to human beings… This is used to drill a hole in the boulders…. Then there is this powder with RDX base.

TEHELKA: RDX? Patel: Mixed… there is some RDX…. There is this white powder… then you connect a wire…. Then wire the battery… press it like this and rotate it and the blast takes place… It can be triggered with a mobile battery… it needs 20 watts power… We’ve become systematic now… Earlier we’d just light it and throw it… it blasts everything… boxes, you know, paan masala boxes… fill them, light them and throw them…

Nov 3, 2007 The Bomb Makers ‘Explosives Experts Helped Make The Bombs’

Transcript: ANIL PATEL The Gujarat VHP’s vibhag pramukh speaks of bombs destined for Ahmedabad being smuggled from stone quarries owned by VHP workers in Sabarkantha

JUNE 13, 2007 TEHELKA: In Ahmedabad, bombs were made at Hareshbhai’s own factory. How did it happen here? Patel: There are a lot of boring industries here… because of which dynamite is available. Then, we also had some experts… they also made them [the explosives] and supplied them to Ahmedabad

Nov 03, 2007

Anil Patel

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Shocking accounts of how the guardians of the law colluded with the outlaws to make Gujarat’s horror even worse

Overview READ » Khaki Klan Killers From willing connivance to leading attacks on Muslims, the police smoothed the path for the rioters in every way they could READ » ‘The Cops Did As The State Wished’ Talking to HARINDER BAWEJA, former ADGP Intelligence, RB Sreekumar, endorses the rioters’ view that the government was on their side READ »

BABU BAJRANGI ‘Their Eyes And Mouths Were Shut’ SURESH RICHARD ‘The Cops Must Have Killed 70 Or More’ RAJENDRA VYAS ‘Narendrabhai Got The Police On Our Side' DHIMANT BHATT ‘I Had Special Curfew Permission’ DHAWAL JAYANTI PATEL ‘If You Said Jay Shri Ram, The Police Understood' RAMESH DAVE ‘All The Cops Helped, Even Gave Us Cartridges' PRAHLAD RAJU ‘The Police Did Nothing Except Watch Us’ ANIL PATEL ‘They'd Deliver Our Arms Safely For Us’ MANGILAL JAIN ‘Tea Twice A Day And Food From Home’

MADAL CHAWAL ‘Erda Said, It Will Be The End Here’

Nov 03, 2007 -- Role Of The Police

Overview

POLICE COMMISSIONER PC Pandey (recently removed from the post of Gujarat DGP by the Election Commission) ordered that the 700-800 dead bodies at Naroda Patiya be clandestinely picked up and dumped all over Ahmedabad to reduce the toll of the massacre

BAJRANG DAL LEADER Babu Bajrangi says he surrendered when Narendra Modi asked him to do so. Joint Commissioner (Crime Branch) PP Pandey and his men arrested him, and told him it was all part of a show ON PAPER, District Superintendent of Police ND Solanki sent a local Sangh leader to judicial custody, but in reality he sent him to stay in a VHP office

DCP GADVI promised VHP’S Kalupurzila mantri Ramesh Dave that he would kill “at least four-five Muslims” if Dave pointed them out to him. Dave took him to a house from where a group of Muslims could be seen. “Before we knew it, he’d killed five people,” Dave said

INSPECTOR KG ERDA told the mob gathered outside the Gulbarg society it had three hours to do its work. The mob went berserk. One man was hacked to death in front of Erda

ERDA told VHP workers to set fire to a vehicle carrying Muslims. He said that the police constable accompanying the vehicle would run away. “The whole episode will end here itself and there will be no question of framing a case against anyone,” he said

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Nov 03, 2007 -- Role Of The Police

Khaki Klan Killers

ASHISH KHETAN From willing connivance to leading attacks on Muslims, the police smoothed the path for the rioters in every way they could

Aim to kill Senior police officers did not just supervise the mayhem, they shaped it

AT AROUND 6pm on March 2, 2002, in Bhavnagar district’s Ghogha Road, over 200 Muslim children were sheltering in a madarsa when a Hindu mob descended on it, baying for blood. Rahul Sharma, then Bhavnagar Superintendent of Police (SP), ordered his troops to open fire. The mob dispersed, the children were saved. Over the next two weeks, after the Bhavnagar incident, the police took similarly courageous action at a few other places. By March 16, eight people had been killed in police firing in Bhavnagar district; five were Hindu, two Muslim. Timely intervention kept the district more or less free of killings. On March 16, however, at 10:10am, Sharma received a call from then Minister of State for Home Gordhan Zadaphia.

“Zadaphia said that while I had done a good job, the ratio of those who died in the police firing was not proper — he was complaining about there being more Hindu deaths than Muslim. I told him things would depend on the ground situation and the nature of the mob,” Sharma said in his deposition before the Nanavati-Shah Commission.

Sharma also told the Commission that when he had called up then Director General of Police K. Chakravarty on March 1, 2002, at around 10:20pm, to request the deployment of additional forces in Bhavnagar, the DGP had said that “though he would send one State Reserve Police Force company the next morning, I should not expect more

help as the bureaucracy had been completely compromised.” The two conversations Rahul Sharma had with Zadaphia and the Director General of Police provide ample indication of the role the majority of the police force played during the 2002 massacre, joining ranks with the mobs that were setting Gujarat on fire. From egging on murderous hordes to go for the kill, to supplying them with ammunition, to transporting bombs between districts, to opening fire at Muslims who were already under attack from Hindu rioters — the police facilitated the massacre in every possible way.

Here are some firsthand accounts from the rioters and conspirators of the help they received from sections of the police in the nightmare days when the upholders of law turned into rioters in uniform.

Nov 03, 2007 -- Role Of ThePolice

‘The Cops Did As The State Wished’ Talking to HARINDER BAWEJA, former ADGP Intelligence, RB Sreekumar, endorses the rioters’ view that the government was on their side

When you were ADGP intelligence, had you filed a report saying weapons had been smuggled from Sabarkantha? In 2002, weapons were recovered from some Muslim areas. Our information was that they were manufactured in an iron works unit in Wadgam, owned by a VHP worker. I had sent the report in writing and also informed KR Kaushik, then the Ahmedabad police chief. When they conducted a raid, nothing was found, but I learned later that the raiding party had leaked the information, which is why nothing was found. The press found out and Hindustan Times ran a front-page report. They kept harassing me but nothing came of it. It was strongly suspected that they were manufacturing tamanchas — country-made firearms.

Were these weapons used during the riots? This information came later on. An inquiry was ordered against me — but the DGP said no action could be taken because it is routine for Intelligence to share information.

Was any action taken against the raid party? (laughs) The raid party’s action was in tune with the political interests of the ruling party. The recovery was shown from the Muslims to make the point that the police was doing a good job of maintaining law and order. Subsequently, on August15, DG Vanzara and others were rewarded for this recovery.

Did you file any reports on the flow of arms or bombs during the riots? Copies of my reports were appended in my first affidavit to the Nanavati-Shah Commission. There was a report on the distribution of trishuls. I took over in April 2002; by then, the frenzy had come down. I had sent reports saying FIRS were not registered properly, many offences were being clubbed together and that the names of the VHP leaders at the head of the mob were being left out of FIRs. This became a controversy. On none of these reports did the government take any follow-up action or seek any clarification. That is very relevant.

Nov 03, 2007 -- Role Of The Police

‘Their Eyes And Mouths Were Shut’

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Transcript: BABU BAJRANGI The Bajrang Dal zealot says the police could have prevented his hordes from entering Naroda Patiya, but didn’t

SEPTEMBER 1, 2007 Nobody can do what Narendrabhai has done in Gujarat. If I didn’t have Narendrabhai’s support, we would not have been able to avenge Godhra... because the police was standing right in front of us, seeing all that was happening, but they had shut their eyes and mouths... At that time, had the police wanted, they would never have let us in... There was just one entry, like a housing society has, and then Patiya begins... If they wanted to stop us, there were 50 of them there, they could have stopped us... We had good support from the police... because of Narendrabhai... and that is because whatever happened in Gujarat, happened for the best. We got some relief from these people [the Muslims]... they had got so high and daring...

• • •

The Muslims kept making calls to the police, kept running to the police… They had one man called Salem… supposed to be a sort of Naroda Patiya dada… he got into a police jeep… got right inside... I myself caught him and dragged him out… The cops said kill him, if he’s left alive, he’ll testify against us… He was taken a little way away and finished off right there… If the bastard had lived, he would have said he’d climbed into a police jeep and was thrown out, things like that…

• • •

[By the end, there were about 700- 800 bodies.] They were all removed… The Commissioner came that night and said that if there were so many dead at one place, it would create trouble for him… So he had the corpses picked up and dumped all over Ahmedabad… When they were brought to the Civil Hospital for the post-mortem, they were said to be from this place or that…

• • •

AUGUST 10, 2007 At 2.30 that night, I called the police inspector [Mysorewala]... He said don’t come here [to the station]... There were dekho to [shoot at sight] orders against me... Wherever Babu Bajrangi was found, he was to be shot... He told me to run away... our Mysorewala... He said he couldn’t do a thing for me... I wasn’t even to tell anyone he’d called… But even so, he sent a rider to my house... you can imagine how my children felt at that time...

• • •

[Four months later] Narendrabhai told me... there was a lot of pressure on him... The media, TV, so much coverage... Babu Bajrangi is a goonda... Laloo complained in Parliament about my not being caught... So Narendrabhai asked me to surrender... I said, alright saheb, if you tell me to, I will give myself up... I surrendered near Gandhinagar... it was all a big drama... all a drama... the police, the Crime Branch, had been told I would be passing through that area... PP Pandey saheb, who was [joint] commissioner in the Crime Branch then, he was there too and some 12 or 13 cars came... These people waited on the road from Biloda to Gandhinagar... they checked a few cars... I had to land up... it was part of the act... If I’d gone straight to the Crime Branch, the media and the NGOs would have ripped me apart... It was all a drama... they caught me, tied me up with rope... all drama... They told me they were tying me up just for show...

Nov 03, 2007

Babu Bajrangi

Role Of The Police

‘The Cops Must Have Killed 70 Or More’ Transcript: SURESH RICHARD A Naroda Patiya accused reminisces on the energetic help the police gave the killers

AUGUST 12, 2007 The police were with us… I can tell you so myself even now... the police… That day was great… They were shooting right in front of us… They must have killed 70 or 80 or more… didn’t even spare women…

• • •

We’d finished burning everything and had come back… That was when the police called us… They said Muslims were hiding in the gutter… Now when we went there, we saw their houses had all been burned down but seven or eight of them had hidden in the drain… We closed the lid on it… if we’d gone in after them, we might have been in danger… We closed the lid and placed big boulders on it… Later on, they found eight or ten corpses in there… They’d hidden to save their lives, but we closed it off and they died of the gases down there… This happened in the evening… the dhamaal went on till night, till about 8.30…

Nov 03, 2007 Role Of The Police

‘Narendrabhai Got The Police On Our Side’

It was a field day, says the VHP’s Ahmedabad president

Transcript: RAJENDRA VYAS JUNE 8, 2007

Rajendra Vyas: As chief minister, Narendrabhai couldn’t say “Kill all the Muslims.” I could say it publicly because I was from the VHP… Pravinbhai Togadia can say it… But he [Modi] can’t say it… But it’s like how we say it in Gujarati, “aa khada kaan khada” [to turn a blind eye]… meaning, he gave us a free run to do whatever we wanted to since we were already fed up of the Muslims… The police was with us… Please understand what I’m trying to say — the police was on our side, and so was the entire Hindu samaj… Bhai [Modi] was careful about that… or else the police would have been on the other side….

TEHELKA: Yes, if it had been a Congress government…

Vyas: Then the result would have been the opposite…

TEHELKA: But the police are after all Hindu. What I want to know is what stand did they take then?

Vyas: They didn’t go near the Muslims… [though] when people would call them up, they’d say they were coming… That’s what they did at that time… The other thing they did was tell people that they could do whatever they wanted… they wouldn’t do a thing…

Nov 03, 2007 Role Of The Police ‘I Had Special Curfew Permission’

Suresh Richard

Rajendra Vyas

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Transcript: DHIMANT BHATT MS University chief accountant, Bhatt commanded respect in Vadodara. He used it to gain cover for arms-running

MAY 9, 2007

Some 50 people like myself had special permission from the police commissioner… to move in curfew areas to help… in order to maintain the peace and law and order… That was just an excuse… I am very open… clear [about it]… But how were we to help the Hindus? At that time, there wasn’t even a stick of wood in Hindu homes. So what were we to do?… We took iron pipes… three feet each… iron bars, and if there were people from the Bajrang Dal, then trishuls… The Bajrang Dal people had a plan for putting together the samaan [weapons] and we went and supplied them to key persons in various localities… It was very necessary…

Nov 03, 2007 Role Of The Police ‘If You Said Jai Shri Ram, The Police Understood’

Transcript: DHAWAL JAYANTI PATEL Ram’s name was all it took for the police to overlook a consignment of bombs. The VHP functionary knew that well

JUNE 13, 2007

TEHELKA: After Godhra, when you made bombs and sent them to Ahmedabad, didn’t the police stop you on the way? Patel: We concealed them from the police… the police would also let us go… If you say Jai Shri Ram, it matters… After all they were Hindus, they also understood…

Nov 03, 2007 Role Of The Police ‘All The Cops Helped, Even Gave Us Cartridges’

Transcript: RAMESH DAVE The VHP’s zila mantri in Kalupur was assured of full support from the police. Unlike the area’s Muslims

JUNE 12, 2007

Dhawal Jayanti Patel

The police were very helpful… very helpful… That’s why when the human rights people came… when they saw everything… they said the politicians had a role in it all… the police too, in fact, everyone who belonged to the [Hindu] samaj… because, after all, what were the police?… The police were Hindu too. The thing was, they were under pressure from the government… If they wanted to do something, they couldn’t… [SK] Gadvi saheb was a new DCP here… Curfew was on and he was patrolling about… I went up to him on my cycle and said namaskar to him… How are you out in curfew hours, he asked… I am a maharaj, I said, I can go wherever I please… Up till then, he didn’t know I was from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad… Then he said he wanted to climb to the top of a nearby temple… I asked him what it was he wanted to do there… He said a lot of Muslims from outside were sitting there and he wanted to set them straight…

I said, if you want to set them straight, then there’s a spot I can take you to… But you have to promise me that you’ll kill at least four or five of them there… He promised… Then we went to that place… He said he’d been there before… I said, forget whether you’ve been here or not… There was a house which was locked, I had the key sent for and we went to the terrace. From there, the place was straight ahead… He started firing from the terrace, and before we knew it he’d killed five people…

Gadvi saheb would tell us never to take his name anywhere, but all the policemen helped us… they all did… One shouldn’t say it, but they even gave us cartridges…

Nov 3, 2007 Role Of The Police

‘The Police Did Nothing Except Watch Us’ Transcript: PRAHLAD RAJU The extermination squad that entered Gulbarg had all the time in the world, says an accused in the case

SEPTEMBER 8, 2007

TEHELKA: How did the police behave with you on the day of the Gulbarg incident? Raju: The police did nothing except watch us…

TEHELKA: They let you do whatever you wanted to? Raju: They did not arrest a single person that day. Nobody was touched.

TEHELKA: They didn’t stop anyone? Raju: They dispersed us after 4:30.

TEHELKA: Till then nobody was stopped? Raju: When orders came from the higher-ups… we were told to leave.

TEHELKA: They let you do as you wanted till 4:30? Raju: Yes… The Crime Branch people behaved very nicely with us... We felt completely at home… Our family members used to come to meet us and they were allowed to… We were kept at the Branch for about a week…

Ramesh Dave

Prahlad Raju

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Nov 03, 2007 Role Of The Police

‘They’d Deliver Our Arms Safely For Us’

Transcript: ANIL PATEL The VHP’s state vibhag pramukh basks in the benefits of State patronage. What could be better than a District Superintendent of Police on one’s team?

The JUNE 13, 2007

Anil Patel: See, there were some areas where we were very concerned about our safety… TEHELKA: Such as…

Patel: Kalupur… Dariyapur… Hindus live along the edges of these places. For their safety, we sent some samaan [weapons] from here. TEHELKA: Sent from here…

Patel: From time to time… there were some policemen we were in touch with… They would come and take the samaan and deliver it safely to the places it was supposed to go… The police here gave us so much support… Some even said, do something… loot them, break them, finish them… I had a fight once with a DSP. One of our brothers cut a Muslim’s ear off with a sword and the DSP arrested him. I told the DSP that our people had been burnt to death and that he was corrupt and used to share food with Muslims in Baroda. Later on, he released the guy. DSP ND Solanki was very good. He said, release him… TEHELKA: So Solanki lent support?

Patel: Full, full. He gave me complete support… See, when the riots were dying out, when temperatures had started cooling down, someone in Biloda village said that nothing had happened there… that something should be done… There was a man there called Mansoori... he was a SIMI sympathiser... he had a vegetable shop… He was hacked to death… Later on, a co-minister from our area, [VHP leader] Arvindbhai Soni, was arrested… I went to Biloda and later on I called the DSP and talked to him… Jayantibhai and I both went and met him and he said he would release Arvindbhai… Everything was there on paper, in the arrest report, but when Arvindbhai was to be transferred to judicial custody, he was told to go back to the [VHP] karyalaya... TEHELKA: To go to the karyalaya …

Patel: He stayed there for a month and a half. TEHELKA: That’s what the DSP said? Who was the DSP? Patel: ND Solanki

• • •

Patel: There was this IB officer, Sreekumar, who sent a fax to the Ahmedabad police commissioner saying the Sabarkantha VHP had supplied weapons to Ahmedabad… The matter was inquired into… our block minister was arrested… The inspector who came for the inquiry was associated with the Sangh… TEHELKA: What was his name? Patel: I don’t know but... after the inquiry was over, he told us that he was with the Jeevan Dal Bhole, our vibhag pracharak…

Anil Patel

Nov 03, 2007 Role Of The Police

‘Tea Twice A Day And Food From Home’ Transcript: MANGILAL JAIN The Gulbarg massacre accused has fond memories of the hospitality afforded at the Ahmedabad Crime Branch

SEPTEMBER 8, 2007

TEHELKA: What was the name of that inspector you were talking about. Jain: [KG] Erda [Meghaninagar police inspector]…

TEHELKA: Erda… what did he do? Jain: He supported us… Those people kept away from the public that day.

TEHELKA: Kept away from Muslims? Jain: From the public…. from Hindus… they told us that everything should be finished within two or three hours.

TEHELKA: That means they gave you two or three hours… Jain: To finish…

TEHELKA: To finish everything… Jain: This was happening across all of Ahmedabad. [It was understood] no outsider would come. Even reinforcements weren’t going to come… The force wouldn’t get there till evening… So we were to do all the work.

TEHELKA: He told you to do it all in two to three hours… Jain: He said it and the mob went berserk. Some started looting. Others started killing… Someone dragged a man out and hacked him down and burned him… A lot of this kind of stuff happened…

TEHELKA: You were caught after two months? Jain: I surrendered after two months.

TEHELKA: Did you appear in court? Jain: Not in court… I appeared before the Crime Branch people. Sadavrati saheb was there… I called him home. We had dinner. He told me to surrender. I did as he said…

TEHELKA: Sadavrati cooperated? Jain: Cooperated… he met me in the evening…

TEHELKA:Was he of help… Jain: He said that Mangilal’s name was there. He told me to surrender…

TEHELKA: At your house?

Mangilal Jain

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Jain: At my house… Don’t worry [he said], have no fear and produce yourself at 10 o’clock tomorrow morning… All will be well… Your son will be out in a month or two… Now that his name is on record, there’s no way out… If his name is there, it means he has to appear… Even a PM or CM can’t help it… So I surrendered to the Crime Branch… they took good care of me…

TEHELKA: They took good care of you… Jain: Yes sir… down there in the lock-up, there were mosquitoes and it’s filthy… We were not kept there… there was a room up above their office… We were kept in the office…There were mattresses… food from my home would come for me twice a day… We were there for three days …

TEHELKA: Three days… Jain: We were produced in court on the first day…

TEHELKA: Where did they record you as being picked up from? Jain: They said that we were picked up from home.…

TEHELKA: They said this… Jain: Yes, that’s what they said… That’s what the police are like, they say one thing and do something else… All they want is to keep their own names looking clean…

TEHELKA: But they took good care of you… Jain: It was good… We got there in the evening… we would get tea twice a day and we could make phone calls… I would get calls from home… we would also make calls… we had full phone facilities… We were in the Crime Branch for three days… we were not even touched… I have to say this… nobody laid a finger on me… They took my statement that day itself… “What happened… Where were you that day…” [was all they asked.]

TEHELKA: What did you say? Jain: I said the shop was closed and I had gone there to watch… I was part of the group… I said I was in the group… and my house was at a distance from that place and there was a huge crowd, I didn’t recognise anyone who did the killing… That’s what I’d say… “Don’t know who was doing the killing… Everybody was raising slogans… so was I…” That’s what I told them, and then I said that after it all, I got home by 2… That’s what I said…

TEHELKA: That’s what you said… Jain: What I said…

TEHELKA: Didn’t they try forcing you to tell the truth? Jain: No, sir… I wasn’t even touched… Whatever I said, they noted down…

TEHELKA: Noted just as you said… Jain: They didn’t say anything to me… I was on remand for two days… the remand was over on the first day itself… It was just for name’s sake… For two days I would get my tiffin from home… my family members would come to meet me… I had every convenience…

TEHELKA: Meaning the remand was just a formality… a legal process… Jain: These people followed full legal process…

Nov 03, 2007

Role Of The Police

‘Erda Said, It Will Be The End Here’ Transcript: MADAN CHAWAL Indicted in the Gulbarg carnage, Chawal is all admiration for a decisive police inspector

SEPTEMBER 8, 2007

Chawal: Erda saheb said that… that whole region… I showed it to you, didn’t I? TEHELKA: Yes.

Chawal: I was just standing around… some 8 to 15 people were there near him… We asked, Saheb, what are you doing, why are you saving them [Muslim survivors]? TEHELKA: You said this to Erda…

Chawal: The public… we were 8 to 15 people… everyone asked him ‘What are you doing?’ TEHELKA: You asked him where he was taking the Muslims?

Chawal:We asked him where were you taking them… then he told us what he was doing… TEHELKA: What did he say?

Chawal: He said, do this… when the vehicle [in which the Muslims were] comes this way, our constable [accompanying the vehicle] will run away… set the vehicle on fire… The whole episode will end here itself and there will be no question of framing a case against anyone… Poori picture yahin khatam ho jaayegi [this picture will end here itself]… • • •

TEHELKA: What did you say in your statement to the police? Chawal: I only talked about how I was shot at that day at 6.30, nothing else…

TEHELKA: You didn’t tell them that you were there in the morning… Chawal: None of that… “I was at my shop… I got shot at… I was doing my business and had come out to weigh something, when the police started firing and a bullet hit me, what could I have done”… TEHELKA: Did you tell the police that you were there with the mob throughout the day? Chawal: No… not that…

TEHELKA: But didn’t [DIG DG] Vanzara ask you to tell the truth, give the true statement? Chawal: Nothing of the sort happened…

TEHELKA: Even during all those days you were with him? Chawal: It was just two or three days…

Madan Chawal

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TEHELKA: Did he keep you well? Chawal: He treated me well… didn’t say anything to me… TEHELKA: What about food? Chawal: Food and all used to come from home…

Nov 03, 2007

Key BJP, RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal activists speak openly of how Narendra Modi blessed the anti-Muslim pogrom Overview READ » Thy Hand, Great Anarch Accused after accused testified to how the Gujarat genocide would not have been possible had Narendra Modi not sent out clear directives to the administration to look the other way READ »

BABU BAJRANGI ‘To Get Me Out On Bail, Narendrabhai Changed Judges Thrice’ RAMESH DAVE ‘His Rage Was Great' HARESH BHATT ‘He Has Done What No CM Ever Has’ SURESH RICHARD ‘We Were Blessed, He

BABU BAJRANGI ‘To Get Me Out On Bail, Narendrabhai Changed Judges Thrice’ RAMESH DAVE ‘His Rage Was Great' HARESH BHATT ‘He Has Done What No CM Ever Has’ SURESH RICHARD ‘We Were Blessed, He Told Us' ARVIND PANDYA ‘Were Modi Not A Minister, He Would Have Burst Bombs' RAJENDRA VYAS ‘Revenge Was His Promise’

Nov 03, 2007 --

What They Said About Modi Overview

NARENDRA MODI’s anger was palpable after the Godhra incident; he vowed revenge. Haresh Bhatt, the then national co-coordinator of the Bajrang Dal, was part of the meeting in which Narendra Modi told them they could do whatever they wanted for the next three days. After that, Bhatt says, “He asked us to stop and everything came to a halt.”

RAJENDRA VYAS, the VHP’s Ahmedabad city president, was consoled by Modi, who said, “Rajendrabhai, calm

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yourself, everything will be taken care of.”

NOT ONLY DID THE MODI government allow the mob fury to continue unabated, it also tried to shelter the perpetrators from the law. Modi himself arranged for Babu Bajrangi, the prime accused in the Naroda Patiya case, to stay at Gujarat Bhavan in Mount Abu, and transferred two judges to help Bajrangi get bail

SINCE THE POLICE were in control all over Gujarat, Modi instructed them to side with the Hindus, thus giving the rioters a free hand for three days until pressure from higher quarters necessitated the calling in of the army

AFTER THE NARODA PATIYA carnage, the chief minister himself went to the site and acknowledged the efforts of the Chhara tribe, who were key participants in the massacre at Naroda Patiya

ARVIND PANDYA, government counsel, is convinced that Modi’s strong leadership made the post-Godhra carnage possible

Nov 03, 2007 -- What They Said About Modi

Thy Hand, Great Anarch

Accused after accused testified to how the Gujarat genocide would not have been possible had Narendra Modi not sent out clear directives to the administration to look the other way

Shalendra Pandey

EARLIER SECTIONS have detailed how leaders of the VHP and the Bajrang Dal conspired and plotted the massacres. How preparations for largescale killings had begun soon after the news of the Sabarmati Express fire was out. How execution squads were formed comprising committed workers of various saffron outfits. How the police turned a blind eye to the violence and in some cases even participated in it, shoulder to shoulder with the mob. How the prosecution plotted to threaten and buy off survivors, instead of ensuring that the accused were convicted.

The massacre and its cover-up were executed at different levels of the BJP government and its extensions like the VHP and the Bajrang Dal. So, was there a ringmaster running the show or was the Gujarat massacre an uncoordinated affair? Was there an invisible hand pulling the strings from behind the stage?

What was the real extent of the role played by the man who ruled the state in a time of carnage that was supported by the various arms of his own government? Was Modi responsible for police complicity in the genocide? Did he give the go-ahead to such bloodthirsty leaders of the VHP and the Bajrang Dal as Babu Bajrangi, Haresh Bhatt and Anil Patel? TEHELKA tried to ascertain the truth from the assassins themselves. And this is what they had to say about Modi and his role.

Nov 03, 2007 -- What They Said About Modi

‘To Get Me Out On Bail, Narendrabhai Changed Judges Thrice’ Transcript: BABU BAJRANGI

Modi has a definite soft spot for the man who would later stall the film Parzania. The regard is mutual

Babu Bajrangi

AUGUST 10, 2007 TEHELKA: The day Patiya happened, didn’t Modi support you? Bajrangi: He made everything all right, otherwise who would have had the strength... It was his hand all the way... If he’d told the police to do differently, they would have f****d us.... they could have... they had full control…

TEHELKA: They had control? Bajrangi: They were very much in control all over the city, all over Gujarat… [But] for two days, Narendrabhai was in control… from the third day… a lot of pressure came from the top… Sonia-wonia and all came here… • • •

TEHELKA: Didn’t Narendrabhai come to meet you [in jail]? Bajrangi: If Narendrabhai comes to meet me, he’ll be in deep trouble… I didn’t expect to see him… Even today, I don’t expect it…

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TEHELKA: Did he ever talk to you over the phone? Bajrangi: That way I do get to speak to him… but not just like that… The whole world starts singing…

TEHELKA: But when you were absconding, then he….. Bajrangi: Hmm… I did speak to him twice or thrice…

TEHELKA: He’d encourage you… Bajrangi: Marad aadmi hai [he’s a real man], Narendrabhai… If he were to tell me to tie a bomb to myself and jump... it wouldn’t take even a second… I could sling a bomb around me and jump wherever I was asked to… for Hindus…

TEHELKA: Had he not been there,then Naroda Patiya, Gulbarg etc… Bajrangi:Wouldn’t have happened.Would’ve been very difficult. • • •

SEPTEMBER 1, 2007

TEHELKA: Did Narendrabhai come to Patiya the day of the massacre? Bajrangi: Narendrabhai came to Patiya… He could not make it to the place of the incidents because there were commando-phamandos with him… But he came to Patiya, saw our enthusiasm and went away… He left behind a really good atmosphere…

TEHELKA: Said you were all blessed… Bajrangi: Narendrabhai had come to see that things didn’t stop the next day… He went all around Ahmedabad, to all the places where the miyas [Muslims] were, to the Hindu areas… told people they’d done well and should do more… • • •

Bajrangi: [After the massacre] the commissioner issued orders [against me]… I was told to leave my home… I ran away… Narendrabhai kept me at… the Gujarat Bhavan at Mount Abu for fourand- a-half months… After that, [I did] whatever Narendrabhai told me to… Nobody can do what Narendrabhai has done in - Gujarat… If I did not have the support of Narendrabhai, we would not have been able to avenge [Godhra]… [After it was over,] Narendrabhai was happy, the people were happy, we were happy… I went to jail and came back… and returned to the life I’d led before. • • • Bajrangi: Narendrabhai got me out of jail…… He kept on changing judges…. He set it up so as to ensure my release, otherwise I wouldn’t have been out yet... The first judge was one Dholakiaji... He said Babu Bajrangi should be hanged — not once, but four-five times, and he flung the file aside... Then came another who stopped just short of saying I should be hanged… Then there was a third one… By then, four-and-a-half months had elapsed in jail; then Narendrabhai sent me a message... saying he would find a way out... Next he posted a judge named Akshay Mehta… He never even looked at the file or anything…. He just said [bail was] granted… And we were all out... We were free….. For this, I believe in God… We are ready to die for Hindutva...

Nov 03, 2007 What They Said About Modi

‘His Rage Was Great’

Transcript: RAMESH DAVE The fury Modi evinced at Godhra was understandable to a fellow Sangh die-hardThe fury Modi evinced at Godhra was understandable to a fellow Sangh die-hard

Ramesh Dave

JUNE 12, 2007 Ramesh Dave:We went to the [VHP] office that night… the atmosphere was very disturbing… Everybody felt that [we had taken it] for so many years… Narendrabhai gave us great support…

TEHELKA: What was his reaction when he reached Godhra? Dave: In Godhra, he gave a very strong statement… He was in a rage… He’s been with the Sangh from childhood… His anger was such… he didn’t come out into the open then but the police machinery was turned totally ineffective…

Nov 03, 2007 What They Said About Modi ‘He Has Done What No CM Ever Has’

Transcript: HARESH BHATT A Bajrang Dal leader in 2002, Bhatt cannot fathom the opposition to his icon

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Haresh Batt

JUNE 1, 2007

TEHELKA: What was Narendra Modi’s reaction when the Godhra incident happened? Haresh Bhatt: I can’t tell you this… but I can say it was favourable… because of the understanding we shared at that time…

TEHELKA: Tell me something… Did he… Bhatt: I can’t give a statement... But what he did, no chief minister has ever done …

TEHELKA: I won’t quote it anywhere…For that matter… I am not even going to quote you Bhatt: He had given us three days… to do whatever we could. He said he would not give us time after that… He said this openly...After three days, he asked us to stop and everything came to a halt…

TEHELKA: It stopped after three days… Even the army was called in. Bhatt: All the forces came… We had three days… and did what we had to in those three days...

TEHELKA: Did he say that? Bhatt: Yes… That is why I am saying he did what no chief minister can do…

TEHELKA: Did he speak to you? Bhatt: I told you that we were at the meeting. • • • Bhatt: He had to run the government... the trouble he is facing now... there are several cases being re-opened... people are rebelling against him...

TEHELKA: People in the BJP are revolting against him... Bhatt: People in the BJP… whatever he has done has made him a larger-than-life figure and the other politicians cannot bear to see that...

Nov 03, 2007

What They Said About Modi ‘We Were Blessed, He Told Us’ Transcript: SURESH RICHARD Modi personally congratulated Richard as he showered praises on the Chhara tribe for a job well done

Suresh Richard

AUGUST 12, 2007 Suresh Richard: [On the day of the massacre] we did whatever we did till quite late in the evening… At around 7.30… around 7.15, our Modibhai came… Right here, outside the house… My sisters garlanded him with roses…

TEHELKA: Narendrabhai Modi… Richard: Narendra Modi… He came with black commandos… got down from his Ambassador car and walked up here…. All my sisters garlanded him… a big man is a big man after all…

TEHELKA: He came out on the road? Richard: Here, near this house…Then he went this way… Looked at how things were in Naroda…

TEHELKA: The day the Patiya incident happened… Richard: The same evening…

TEHELKA: 28 February … Richard: 28…

TEHELKA: 2002… Richard: He went around to all the places… He said our tribe was blessed… He said our mothers were blessed [for bearing us]…

TEHELKA: He came at about 5 o’ clock or at 7? Richard: Around 7 or 7.30… At that time there was no electricity… Everything had been burnt to ashes in the riots…

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• • •

TEHELKA: Now, after that day when Narendrabhai Modi visited your home, the day of the Naroda Patiya massacre, has he ever been back here again? Richard: Never.

Nov 03, 2007 What They Said About Modi

‘Were Modi Not A Minister, He Would Have Burst Bombs’ Transcript: ARVIND PANDYA The Gujarat CM is the Hindu samaj’s new saviour, says the government counsel in the Nanavati-Shah Commission

Arvind Pandey

JUNE 6, 2007

Arvind Pandya: [The Muslims of Godhra] thought they could get away with it because the Gujarati is mild by nature. In the past, they had beaten the Gujarati, they have even beaten the entire world, and nobody has shown any courage… Nobody had ever resisted them… They thought they’d get away with it just like they always do, but they used to get away with it because there was Congress rule here earlier… To get their votes, the Congress would suppress Gujaratis and Hindus… But this time, they were thrashed… It is Hindu rule now… All of Gujarat is ruled by Hindus, and that too from the VHP and the BJP…

TEHELKA: They miscalculated… Pandya: No, what would have happened… If it were a Congress government, then they would have never allowed Hindus to beat Muslims, they would have used their administrative force just to drag the Hindus down… They never stop [Muslims] from violence… They’ll tell Hindus to maintain peace but will never do anything to touch them [Muslims]… They would never have done anything, even in cases like [Godhra], but in this case, there was a Hindu-based government and… so, people were ready and the state was also ready… This is a good connivance [sic].

TEHELKA: This was the good fortune of the Hindu community… the entire Hindu samaj. Pandya: And let us say the ruler was also strong in nature because he gave, just take the revenge and I am ready… We must first salute Kalyan Singh because he accepted every kind of liability before the Supreme Court, saying… I did this, I was the party….

TEHELKA: Later on, when he changed the party…

Pandya: He did, but he was the founder person, he just stood before the Supreme Court boldly and said that I am the person…

TEHELKA: Took sole responsibility. Pandya: Thereafter, the second hero by the name of… Narendra Modi came and he gave oral instructions to the police to remain with the Hindus, because the entire kingdom is with the Hindus.

JUNE 8, 2007

TEHELKA: Sir, is it true that when Modi went to Godhra on February 27, that VHP workers attacked him? Pandya: No, they didn’t. It’s like this… There are 58 bodies… and it’s evening… people are bound to say, what have you done…

TEHELKA: From 8 in the morning till evening, he didn’t land up… So, when things got heated, then Modi ji got angry and he… Pandya: No it’s not like that… Modi’s been on our line for a long time… Forget that matter… But he’s occupying a post, so naturally there are more limitations… and he has quite a few… It is he who gave all signals in favour of the Hindus… If the ruler is hard, then things can start happening…

TEHELKA: Did you meet… Narendra Modi after he returned from Godhra on the 27th? Pandya: No, I will not answer queries on this… I shouldn’t...

TEHELKA: Sir, I want to know what was his first reaction? Pandya: When Narendra Modi first heard it over the phone, his blood was boiling… Tell me, what else do I say… I’ve given you some hints and I can’t reveal more than that… nor should I say it…

TEHELKA: I wanted to know this… what his first reaction was… Pandya: No, his reaction was like this: if he were not a minister, he would have burst bombs… If he had the capacity and was not a minister he would have detonated a few bombs in Juhapura [a Muslimdominated locality in Ahmedabad].

Nov 03, 2007 What They Said About Modi

‘Revenge Was His Promise’ Transcript: RAJENDRA VYAS Inconsolable after Godhra, the VHP Ahmedabad chief had Modi’s word that everything would be taken care of

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Rajendra Vyas

JUNE 8, 2007 TEHELKA: I wanted to know… about Narendra Modi… what were his first words [after the Godhra train incident]? What did he tell all of you?... Rajendra Vyas: He first said that we would take revenge… the same thing I myself had said publicly… I hadn’t even eaten anything then… Hadn’t even had a drop of water… I was in such a rage that so many people had died, tears were flowing from my eyes… but when I started using my strength… started abusing… he [Modi] said, Rajendrabhai, calm yourself, everything will be taken care of… What did he mean when he said that everything would be taken care of?… All those who were meant to understand, understood…

Nov 03, 2007

How public prosecutors ran with the hare and hunted with the hound, keeping their sympathies strictly for the accused. Government Counsel Arvind Pandya on how he hopes to subvert justice by manipulating the Nanavati-Shah Commission, set up to ascertain the truth Overview READ » Justice. Blind To The Victim The Sangh was preparing its case for the defence even before the riots, selecting lawyers with the utmost care READ » Devil’s Advocate The state counsel before the Nanavati-Shah Commission believes it’s better to cripple Muslims than to kill them READ »

DILIP TRIVEDI ‘Some Cases Were So Weak. By God’s Grace We Managed’ BHARAT BHATT ‘I Never Took Money From The Accused’ ARVIND PANDYA ‘KG Shah Is Our Man. Nanavati Is Only After Money’

Nov 03, 2007 -- Legal Subversion Overview

Photo: Cherian Thomas

A PANEL OF ADVOCATES was constituted to defend the rioters by key members of the Sangh Parivar on the very night of the Sabarmati Express fire

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CHETAN SHAH, a VHP member and a leading lawyer of Ahmedabad, was the first to defend the accused in the Naroda Patiya massacre case. In what became a pattern of having Sangh sympathizers represent the government in crucial cases, he was later appointed as public prosecutor in the Gulbarg society case

DILIP TRIVEDI, general secretary of the VHP’s Gujarat unit, is the senior pleader in Mehsana district, which was among the worst affected areas during the riots. He has been coordinating riot cases across Gujarat

IN SABARKANTHA, public prosecutor Bharat Bhatt is the VHP’s district president. He says he has been doing his best to help the accused

ARVIND PANDYA, the state government’s counsel in the Nanavati-Shah Commission, casts aspersions on the judges. According to him, Nanavati is after money and Shah is sympathetic to them

Nov 03, 2007 -- Legal Subversion

Justice. Blind To The Victim

The Sangh was preparing its case for the defence even before the riots, selecting lawyers with the utmost care

IT WAS not just the carnage that was clinically planned and supervised by the State, it was also the aftermath. Even before the riots began, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad had started chalking out a strategy for providing legal assistance to Hindus who were likely to be accused of rioting and killing. Dhimant Bhatt and Deepak Shah, members of the BJP’s Vadodara unit — Bhatt also being the chief accountant of the Maharaja Sayajirao University (MSU) and Shah a member of the University’s executive body — told TEHELKA that key members of the Sangh Parivar met on the night of the Sabarmati Express incident to constitute a panel of advocates to defend the rioters. The fact that the VHP had a good number of advocates — both private lawyers and public prosecutors — among its ranks, made the task easy. Deepak Shah named many Vadodara lawyers, such as Rajendra Trivedi, Neeraj Jain and Tushar Vyas, who were present in that preparatory meeting.

In district Sabarkantha, Narendra Patel and Mohan Patel — both members of the RSS — told TEHELKA that after the riots the RSS had formed a body called Sankalan to provide legal aid to Hindu rioters. Many of the VHP’s lawyers, who had their own private practices, became defence counsels for the accused, and public prosecutors who were either members of the VHP or sympathetic to the Sangh extended indirect assistance to the rioters.

The public prosecutors, instead of taking forward the charges against the accused, actually helped them in the case. So, in many places, both the defence and the prosecution were on the same side — on the side of those who looted, raped and killed. What hope then did the Muslim community have of seeing their tormentors convicted? First the police sided with the rioters through shoddy investigations, and now the prosecution too was ranged against the victims. Chetan Shah, an active VHP member and a leading Ahmedabad lawyer, was the first to represent the accused in the Naroda Patiya massacre. The government later appointed him as the public prosecutor in the Gulbarg society case. TEHELKA met a Gulbarg case accused named Prahlad Raju, who said that while he was on the run, he was being advised by Chetan Shah about when he should surrender before the police.

In Mehsana district, Dilip Trivedi, general secretary of the VHP’s Gujarat unit, is also the senior pleader leading a team of about a dozen public prosecutors working under him. Mehsana was among the worst-affected areas during the riots. Two cases in Mehsana in particular — the Deepda Darwaza incident in Visnagar town and the Sardarpura incident — had shaken the conscience of civil society for the number of people killed and also the barbaric manner in which the killings were carried out. Trivedi, whose job was to oppose the bail applications moved by the accused in these two cases, was accused by civil society of helping the accused get bail. After several representations before the Gujarat High Court and the Supreme Court by the victims, Trivedi was removed from representing them in riot cases. TEHELKA went to see Trivedi at his office within the Mehsana court premises on June 15, 2007. TRIVEDI REVEALED that in his capacity as the VHP’s general secretary, he had coordinated all the riot cases in Gujarat. While the reporter was sitting in Trivedi’s chamber, two people walked in to discuss a riot-related case in which Hindus were accused. The men needed Trivedi’s help to engage a lawyer who could represent the accused. Trivedi called up a few lawyers and tried to find his visitors a suitable lawyer. After the two men left his office, Trivedi said that the defence lawyer who was handling their case had fallen ill, and the responsibility of finding a new defence lawyer had again fallen upon him. He grumbled about having to manage everything — from coordinating with government lawyers and defence advocates to talking to cops who were reinvestigating the riot cases. He further said that out of a total of 74 riot-related cases in Mehsana, only two had resulted in conviction. “In one case, I got the acquittal after I made an appeal in the Sessions Court… In the second case, the appeal has been made before the High Court but everyone is out on bail... the conviction was wrong.” He then went on to narrate the worst cases of the killing and looting of Muslims that happened in Mehsana post-Godhra. He said one such case — the Sardarpura case — had been stayed by the Supreme Court, but since the accused were out on bail, he was not worried. He then went on to explain how after the accused in the Sardarpura riot case were granted bail by the Mehsana court, the victims had made such a big noise, that The Times Of India had carried a front-page story accusing him of playing a partisan role in riot-related cases. A gleeful Trivedi boasted that even though the allegations against him were true, nothing could be proved “on paper”. Everybody knew, he said, that after the riots, he had camped in every district holding meetings with government prosecutors, his own workers and police officers.

In Sabarkantha, TEHELKA met public prosecutor Bharat Bhatt, who also happens to be the VHP’S district president. Bhatt said he had been doing his best to help the accused. This public prosecutor has in fact turned broker — instead of fighting for justice, he is pushing for out-of-court settlements.

Nov 03, 2007 -- Legal Subversion

Devil’s Advocate

The state counsel before the Nanavati-Shah Commission believes it’s better to cripple Muslims than to kill them

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Arvind Pandya

THE COUNTRY always believed that Chief Minister Narendra Modi was the guardian deity of the murderous hordes let loose across Gujarat following the Godhra carnage. This belief had acquired the force of truth not only due to Modi’s own pronouncements and to those of other members of his party, but also because of an across-the-spectrum indictment of the Modi regime by the media, human rights groups and independent factfinding teams. The Nanavati-Shah Commission, the official probe into the carnage, has been recording statements for a few years now. But in a serious indictment, Arvind Pandya, the Gujarat government’s counsel, reveals that he’s trying to manage the proceedings. Pandya, the special public prosecutor appointed by the Modi government to defend it before the Nanavati-Shah Commission, too believes, like everybody else, that had it not been for Modi the Hindus could not have taken their “revenge” for the Godhra killings. Pandya is privy not only to privileged state information, he is also aware of Modi’s own thoughts on the matter. Leading a battery of lawyers for the past five years to absolve Modi and his government of charges of sponsoring and backing the 2002 pogrom, Pandya told TEHELKA that during the riots Modi had given oral instructions to the police to “be with Hindus”. “A Hindu-based government was there when this incident took place, so the people were ready and the state was also ready… this was a happy coincidence,” Pandya said. This reporter met Pandya twice – on June 6 and on June 8. On both occasions, Pandya emphasised that had there been a non-BJP government in power in 2002, the riots would never have happened. He said that Modi was so upset after the Godhra carnage that he would himself had dropped bombs on Juhapura — a Muslim neigbourhood in Ahmedabad — but his position as chief minister constrained him. Pandya said he believed that the mass killing of Muslims in Gujarat should be celebrated every year as “victory day”. He said that crippling Muslims was better than killing them, as that would not only invite lesser punishment but a crippled Muslim would also serve as a living advertisement of what Hindus were capable of. Inflicting economic loss on Muslims was as important as killing them, Pandya asserted. This isn’t all. Even as he was defending the government before the Commission, Pandya was also simultaneously arguing the cases of the riot accused. He told TEHELKA that in many cases, the judges had given him their full cooperation and guidance. “Every judge was calling me in his chamber and showing full sympathy for me… giving full cooperation to me, but keeping some distance… the judges were also guiding me as and when required… how to put up a case and on which date… because basically they are Hindus… so help from each and every class of people came forth… the people remained united and their only motive was the survival of Hinduism,” said the lawyer. According to Pandya, it’s not just the judiciary in Gujarat that has been complicit in the victimisation and persecution of Muslims. Pandya claimed even the Nanavati-Shah Commission has been compromised. He says KG Shah, who heads the Commission along with Nanavati, is sympathetic to the BJP. Pandya was also full of derision for Nanavati, who he said was only interested in money. What follows is a part of the conversation that TEHELKA had with Pandya at his residence in Ahmedabad on June 8, 2007. Click here

Nov 03, 2007

- the conversation referred to above follows:

Legal Subversion ‘KG Shah Is Our Man. Nanavati Is Only After Money’

Transcript: ARVIND PANDYA

Gujarat Advocate General Arvind Pandya claims the accused have nothing to fear from the Nanavati-Shah Commission

Arvind Pandey

JUNE 8, 2007 TEHELKA: Who was at the forefront during the riots? Pandya: It will be wrong to say some were there and some were not… Practically everybody who went to the field was from the Bajrang Dal and the VHP… TEHELKA: Did Jaideepbhai go to the field? Pandya: Jaideepbhai had also gone… Which leaders went where, who had a role, who had a suspected role — we have before the Commission all these details, all the mobile numbers, who went where… We have the locations… TEHELKA: Yes, some controversy also took place… Pandya: It’s still on… And I know whose mobile numbers were there… who talked to whom, from which location… I have the papers… TEHELKA: So can there be some problem for the Hindus because of that… for Jaideepbhai etc… Pandya: Arrey bhai, I am the one who has to fight the case… don’t worry… don’t worry about this, there will be no problem here. If there will be a problem I’ll solve it… I have spent all these years for whom… for my own blood TEHELKA: Can the commission’s report go against the Hindus? Pandya: Nahi, nahi… it can create some problems for the police… it can go against them… see, the judges who have been selected are from the Congress… TEHELKA: Yes, Nanavati… and Shah

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Pandya: That’s the only problem… our leaders at the time got into a controversy in a hurry… what they thought was that since Nanavati was involved in the Sikh riots... that if they use a Congress judge there will be no controversy… TEHELKA: So is Nanavati absolutely against you people? Pandya: Nanavati is a clever man…He wants money... Of the two judges, KG Shah is intelligent… woh apne wala hai [he is our man]… he is sympathetic to us… Nanavati is after money… TEHELKA: You are saying he wants to make money… Pandya: It is an internal matter... TEHELKA: The Nanavati-Shah Commission can go against Hindus…. Pandya: They run the Commission for years… he wants money, nothing else… He is a Congressman… TEHELKA: And Shah? Pandya: Nahi Shah to apnay hain [No, Shah is one of our own]… but Nanavati is a retired Supreme Court judge and Shah is a retired High Court judge… • • • Pandya: I have been the government’s special AG [Advocate General] in these riots… I kept note of just two things… I told the VHP that none of you have to come to the Commission ever… you keep in touch with me, that’s all… I told the BJP too to keep in touch with me, that’s all… I have also told the Sangh that whenever I hold camps at various places don’t come there with a big strength and don’t bring a known face. You keep in touch with me on phone… If I’ll need anything, you’ll just receive a call, not more… I also went to all the places where the camps were held. I also held my own camps. I went to the camps to win the local people’s favour… how it should be done, what is to be done. TEHELKA: It would have created problems otherwise… Pandya: The style of working is different… I am the one who has created this whole mood of the Commission… that is why all these lectures the Muslims give to their activists… It’s written in many lectures, some have also been recorded by the IB [Intelligence Bureau] that if a Hindu or a Hindu leader gets involved then it is dangerous, but if Arvind Pandya gets involved it is 2,000 times dangerous… TEHELKA:Has there been any inquiry against you? Pandya: One was TEHELKA-related... I had threatened the police officer, RB Sreekumar... that leaked out and it ran on TV all day... but that was the last tehelka...

Nov 03, 2007 -- Legal Subversion ‘Some Cases Were So Weak. By God’s Grace We Managed’

Transcript: DILIP TRIVEDI A VHP general secretary, the senior advocate says he coordinated all the riot cases in Gujarat and received whole-hearted support from lawyers across the state

Dilip Trivedi

JUNE 15, 2007 Dilip Trivedi: I have coordinated all the cases in Gujarat… Being the general secretary of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, I have coordinated all the matters in all the courts, hence all the advocates gave their honorary services to me and that is why they are all very close to me…

TEHELKA: That is why Arvindbhai Pandya [the government counsel in the Nanavati-Shah Commission] kept repeating your name… Trivedi: It is by God’s grace that a lot of advocates like Arvindbhai Pandya have kept faith in me and also respected me. In this matter, they worked the way I told them to… It’s God’s grace… I haven’t even given anything to these advocates…

TEHELKA: All of them have contributed and given their support in whatever way they could… Trivedi: Not just that, we have also taken a lot from them other than this… They must be impressed… they have done a good job… [Two people walk in to discuss a riot-related case with Trivedi. The conversation between them is in Gujarati. The men need Trivedi’s help in engaging a lawyer who can represent a few Hindus accused of rioting. Trivedi calls up a few lawyers and discusses the case with them]

TEHELKA:Was this case about the riots? Trivedi: Yes, it was a case about riots… the trial is going on in the Kalol court… The defence lawyer who was handling the case has undergone a major surgery. He is bed-ridden now…

TEHELKA: So a new lawyer has to be arranged now? Trivedi: Some other lawyer has to be arranged… No matter wherever the trial goes on, who will you meet to engage a lawyer?

TEHELKA: You. Were the accused Hindus? Trivedi: Yes… Hindu… The thing is, I have to manage all of this… Dialogues, settlements with the public prosecutor and the defence lawyers, I coordinate all of it…

TEHELKA: How many districts do you manage? Trivedi: The whole of Gujarat… Ijust have to call up these people on the phone, like this lawyer we were talking about, and he will go and meet up with them…

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TEHELKA: So the defence lawyer will be arranged… Trivedi: Yes… everything will fall in place… Whenever anyone has any problem, they call me on the phone, I think about the right man and then inform the concerned person… Meeting the DGP, and the people under him, like the DIG and the AGP, talking to them, all of that…

TEHELKA: It is your responsibility? Trivedi: Yes we do it… get it done…by finding out who has contacts at which place… All God’s grace… we have managed at all the places… otherwise the cases were so weak that sometimes we also thought… And out of the 12 cases, in three cases the conviction has been done by Muslim judges… That will stay… • • • Trivedi: There is a lot of support from KG Shah in the Nanavati Commission… The other thing is the arrangements we have been making to defend the Hindus… For that, the BJP is making its own arrangements, the Sangh is making its own arrangements and the Parishad is making its own… This kind of division won’t work out…

TEHELKA: How many cases have been registered in Mehsana? Trivedi: A total of 182 complaints were filed in Mehsana, out of which chargesheets have been filed in 78 cases. In two cases it was filed later… Out of these 80 cases, three are pending… three or four… the other 76 are now complete…

TEHELKA: In favour of the Hindus? Trivedi: In only two of the casesc was there a conviction… In the remaining 74 cases, all the accused were acquitted… In the two cases where there was a conviction, we appealed in one and got the accused acquitted… In the second one, we have filed an appeal in the High Court… The appeal has been admitted and the accused have got bail… That conviction was also wrong… Yes in some districts they are still in jail… but… more than 3,000 Hindus were arrested… Out of these only 100-150 people haven’t got bail as yet…

TEHELKA: So Mehsana was most affected by the riots that followed Godhra… Trivedi: It turned serious at a lot of places… like Beesnagar… Beejapur tehsil…

TEHELKA: Beejapur… Trivedi: Beejapur… There is a villagec there called Sardarpur… In Sardarpur, where the houses of the Muslims were set on fire, 14 people were accused… This was a big case… The Supreme Court has imposed a stay on it… Now I am not worried because all the accused in the case have got bail…

TEHELKA: Nothing to worry now… Trivedi: The other one is an incident in Beesnagar… It is known by the name of Vistaar… there is an office in Beesnagar tehsil…it’s known by the name of Deepdadarwaza…

TEHELKA: Deepdarwaza, yes… TRIVEDI: Deepdadarwaza…

TEHELKA: Arvindbhai told me about it… Deepdadarwaza… Trivedi: In that case too, the Supreme Court ordered a stay…

TEHELKA: How many Muslims were killed there? Trivedi: Not many were killed there…

TEHELKA: Ok… Most of the harm was done to the property… TRIVEDI: Yes, more harm was done to the property… Actually not many dead bodies were found there… they were found at different places because the place that was set ablaze was near a pond… there are two-three more cases, there too all the accused were acquitted… Then there is one Kadi tehsil… There is a village there called Medhaagraj… The incident that took place there was also a big one… In the incident in Kadi city, we again got the acquittal… Whatever one-two convictions that were made were in Ujjha tehsil…

TEHELKA: Where? Trivedi: Ujjha… Since there is a tehsil office there, the damage was done only to property…

TEHELKA: Still there was a conviction? Trivedi: Yes, 32 people were convicted in it…

TEHELKA: Why? Trivedi: There was a mob…

TEHELKA:Weren’t you the government pleader in the case? Trivedi: No…

TEHELKA: You weren’t there in that case? Trivedi: The judge convicted them because of a different reason…

TEHELKA:Was he a Hindu judge… Trivedi: Yes, he was a Hindu judge… But the reason why he handed out convictions was something else… TEHELKA: Some local politics… Trivedi: Not politics… He had some issue with the High Court… By doing this he wanted to show that he was unbiased… In all there were 95 accused in the case… 62 were acquitted and 32 were convicted… Of those we have already filed an appeal in 32 cases, there will be an acquittal in them too…

TEHELKA: Have they been acquitted? Trivedi: No, all of them have have been bailed out because they were sentenced for only three years…

Trivedi:We got bail that day itself from there… Then one has to appeal in the High Court to get it… we got that too… It keeps happening…

TEHELKA: Who is the public prosecutor in Godhra? Trivedi: Piyush Gandhi… He is also from the VHP only…

TEHELKA: Cases were reopened in Mehsana also… Trivedi: I told you two cases were reopened…

TEHELKA: Two cases… Trivedi: They also have to give some reply to the Supreme Court… they have to show that they have done something… so in every district they show something or the other…

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TEHELKA: Which were the twocases reopened in Mehsana Trivedi: For loot and arson etc… in Randhikpur, since the beginning the show was being run by the VHP… be they workers from the Sangh, the VHP or the BJP or from the Hindu samaj… we worry about all of them… we still worry about them… We provided food for all those who were lodged in Sabarmati jail… we ran a full kitchen

Nov 03, 2007 Legal Subversion

‘I Never Took Money From The Accused’

Transcript: BHARAT BHATT

Public prosecutor Bharat Bhatt thinks it is his sacred duty to shield Hindus, even if he is arguing against them in court

Bharat Batt

JUNE 17, 2007 Bhatt: See… initially a certain environment was built up… It was an environment the judiciary and the police department were all keen about. They helped because they thought they should, because they were Hindus themselves and because they are the kind who will go with the music... It is only when the music stops, that they get to know that they are tired… In such a situation only that worker can be strong who is… TEHELKA: Who is totally committed… Bhatt: Who is committed… People that we get in by force lose their enthusiasm. I gave a book to two judges today…The jehad Pravinbhai [Togadia] had written about… TEHELKA: I have it… Bhatt: You have it?… see, their [Muslims’] dharmjunoon [religious fervour] is very high… In comparison, ours is low… TEHELKA: So how many cases have been registered against the Hindus in the district? Bhatt: Fourteen hundred cases have been registered in the entire district… TEHELKA: And in Modasa? Bhatt: In Modasa, the total number of cases are 1,400… out of which 600, or around 550, were committed in the

beginning itself… The rest were re-opened… When they were re-opened, people were again disturbed… Due to the stand the Supreme Court has taken now, the people are scared. These judges in the lower court aren’t courageous enough… not daring... TEHELKA: Did they show some courage in the beginning? Bhatt: They did in the beginning… Actually right now, the ones in the upper courts have ordered the retrial of the Baroda case… TEHELKA: Best Bakery… Bhatt: The Best Bakery one… after that, the morale of new people went down… TEHELKA: But there is still some support from people… Bhatt:We are trying to fulfil our responsibility… whatever matters Ihave dealt with here, I was very hard with the Muslims… They kept changing their statements… gave additional statements… I said these don’t have evidentiary value… But these judges from the lower court… they also do wrong… they are scared of their seniors… It’s like a policewala who may be corrupt but he will still be scared of his senior officers because his SP can suspend him… TEHELKA: So what is the attitude of the police now?

Bhatt: Attitude of the police? TEHELKA: In the cases that have reopened. Bhatt: See, they are also a little scared for their jobs but they don’t go against us... They help us… listen to us… agree with us… They also know that the Muslims are trying to get as much compensation money as they can out of us… Recently they took around six and a half lakhs from us… to settle this… TEHELKA: Which case? Bhatt: A riot case only… Section 436. TEHELKA:Was it in Modasa?

Bhatt: He was asking for Rs 20 lakh… It was then settled for 10 lakh… TEHELKA:Were they convicted then? Bhatt: No… Then too these people resolved it by paying money… Do you get it? If you were told that you wouldn’t have any problems, would you pay?… TEHELKA: No way Bhatt: But still even you would be scared about whether you’d be acquitted or not… Moreover, we also have those psychological and fictitious fears… And then we also have traitors… in our community… out of those 25 accused, three turned traitors the moment people started telling them to get the case resolved or they would be convicted… TEHELKA: How was the money raised? Bhatt: These people themselves contributed… TEHELKA: The accused? Bhatt: The accused contributed… Before this, when I used to handle all the cases in the district, I never used to take any money from the accused. I used to hold meetings in the villages of the accused and tell the rich people there that there were people in Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana and UP who had property worth crores of rupees but had lost everything once madarsas opened nearby. What is the point of having money if you can’t even put it to use for the welfare of your own community. While some gave Rs 5,000, others gave 10,000, sometimes even a lakh, this is

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how we collected fiveseven lakhs… which is what it took to settle the case since it was a daylight murder and he had used his sword to cut the man to pieces… Five people did it but they [the victims] named some decent people instead… for instance, the medical store owner… TEHELKA: In Modasa? Bhatt: No, in Biloda… I got it settled for Rs 4,60,000, out of which four lakh was collected by me… from the people… TEHELKA: This happened in the beginning? Bhatt: In the beginning…

TEHELKA: So what are the problems in the cases that have reopened recently? Bhatt: In cases that have recently reopened, the problem is that we don’t have lawyers who can make sacrifices, and to get these kind of lawyers one has to spend money… TEHELKA: Don’t you handle these cases… Aren’t you a public prosecutor? Bhatt: I am a public prosecutor, but they will need a defence lawyer… TEHELKA: But can’t they get any help from your side? Bhatt: They get all kinds of help from me… Whenever I feel that there is a need to scold… I tell them you live in the village… settle the issue and keep each other’s honour intact, you have all your property there... live peacefully, whatever had to happen has happened… the tongue and the teeth are both inside the mouth. Even if the teeth cut the tongue, we don’t break the teeth… Similarly, if you want to live in this village where your fathers and grandfathers have lived… and anyway, you wont leave this village and go to Pakistan… forgive him, he has committed a mistake… He will say sorry… you also say sorry… keep each other’s honour… TEHELKA: So some people agree to what you suggest? Bhatt: They agree… TEHELKA: Do they take money to agree? Bhatt: Some agree after taking money but some also agree on their own... TEHELKA: So how many cases have been settled like this? Bhatt: How? TEHELKA: The ones in which the Muslims agreed? Bhatt: In almost 25 percent of the cases they agreed… • • • TEHELKA: Will there be a problem in the other cases? Bhatt: As far as the support of the judges is concerned, they are too scared… If the statement is not there… then what will they do? Right now, most of the sensitive cases that had undergone trial in Sabarkantha have been reopened. It’s only in this district where the maximum number of cases have reopened…

TEHELKA: In Sabarkantha? Bhatt: The Joint District Session Judge here is a Muslim… the District Judge in Himmatnagar is also a Muslim… There are three places here… the Sessions Court that opened recently in Iddar also has a Muslim judge. That is why the maximum number of cases that have been reopened against Hindus are in this area…

TEHELKA: In Iddar? Bhatt: Yes, Iddar… a lot of cases have been reopened there… the cases were of tribals… I have tried to convince them a lot… I am telling you this so that you also know… when these people used to come, I used to arrange for their food… I used to tell them that they could stay here, their relatives who were in jail would be released the next day… make them stay at the office of the Parishad… send dal baati for them twice a day from my account to the Parishad office… I am here, don’t worry. This is how I have tried to convince the tribals a number of times… TEHELKA: Then they will get agitated… Bhatt: Then they will get agitated and the whole belt is such that… if you get time… although we can’t cover it in 15-20 minutes… but we could go tonight to take a round of Khedbrahma… TEHELKA: Khedbrahma… Bhatt: Yes… then I also have my own office in Himmatnagar… the testimony for all the cases that took place there are lying in that office… Chargesheets must be there too… We can have a look at it… and this is a belt which is suffering from the same problem as Assam, Nagaland and Kohima… where everyone will convert to Christianity if Hindus like us don’t pay attention… • • • Bhatt: Nine of our men were in jail but now they are out… Every 15-20 days we used to send 20-22 kilos of ration to their homes… Though we did not burst crackers at our own place on Diwali, we sent nine cartons of crackers to their place… sweets too… clothes for everyone… for the kids… for the parents… A vehicle was sent every 15-20 days… one person used to give us the vehicle for free… along with the diesel… the other one used to give seven packets of jaggery, 500 gm each… one person gave wheat… like this we used to collect stuff from around 10-15 people and every 22 days we would fill the vehicle and deliver the rations in their area… TEHELKA: To the adivasis? Bhatt: To the adivasis… because most of the men were in jail, the women had no resources to arrange for food… TEHELKA: For how many years now have you been a public prosecutor? Bhatt: I have been a public prosecutor since December 2003, so you can say from 2004… When I came here as public prosecutor, I received Rs 400 per day… Although I get my own car everyday… It runs on LPG… My expenditure is Rs 200 per day… So I end up earning only 200 rupees each day, but still I come for morality’s sake, for our work… for the work of Hindus… TEHELKA: Are you a public prosecutor in these cases? Bhatt: Yes, in all of them… I tell all the Hindus not to smile when they see me… not to say a word to me.. I tell them that I will scold them if they do… whatever I have to do I will do but it will be for them only… I get all these matters solved… I have already solved two-three murder cases like this before… TEHELKA:Were the people acquitted in those cases? Bhatt: They were acquitted… sometimes I deceive them… I scare them but later show my affections too… • • • TEHELKA: How many public prosecutors are there in Sabarkantha? Bhatt: There are at least 6-7 of them in Sabarkantha… TEHELKA: So how many of them are with Hindus? Bhatt: All of them are with us… since the ruling party makes the appointments, all of them are with us… but they are with us only for name’s sake… they don’t show much interest… like when they see you they say, come, let’s do some work…

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TEHELKA: So how many people are actually showing some interest in this work? Bhatt: There used to be one Hirendrabhai Trivedi, he doesn’t come now, he has resigned… he worked with a lot of interest… TEHELKA: For the Hindu society? Bhatt: For the Hindu society… He was the district chief of the Parishad… I was the chairman… then there is one Hirenbhai… there is one lawyer called JD Jala who has a private practice. I am the one who collected all these people to make this group...

Nov 03, 2007

The truth behind Naroda Patiya, the grisliest massacre of 2002. Ahmedabad police’s collusion in the pogrom and its cover-up. Gory details of how former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri was hacked limb by limb at Gulbarg Society, in the words of those who did it. ‘Muslims, They Don't Deserve To Live’ Genocide was swift and total in Naroda Patiya. So was its cover-up. The perpetrators remain unpunished and unabashed READ » Safehouse Of Horrors Petrified Muslims in the area flocked to Gulbarg, sure of refuge for it housed former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri. Their worst fears came alive READ »

Nov 3, 2007

-- Dance Of Hate ‘Muslims, They Don't Deserve To Live’ Genocide was swift and total in Naroda Patiya. So was its cover-up. The perpetrators remain unpunished and unabashed

IN WITHIN HOURS of the tragedy on board the Sabarmati Express, the BJP and its affiliates — the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Bajrang Dal — started preparations for one of the worst acts of genocide in the history of this country. On February 28, 2002, a day after the Sabarmati Express fire, Ahmedabad witnessed mass killings of the most horrific nature. Armed saffron cadres roamed the streets, burning, looting, raping and killing Muslims at will. The neighbourhood that bled most was Naroda, a locality on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, with a mixed population of Hindus and Muslims. In a most systematic manner, the BJP, the VHP and the Bajrang Dal formed an execution squad that carried out a pogrom from 10 in the morning of February 28 till after well past dark. Apart from firearms, tridents and swords, everything that could conceivably be turned into a weapon at short notice — from bricks to gas cylinders to diesel tankers — was unleashed on an entire neighbourhood of Muslims. Most victims were burnt alive. Before being set on fire, many were stabbed, raped and hacked apart. Right through the massacre, the cellphones of the rioters were ringing constantly, with death scores being shared at regular intervals. By sundown, Naroda Patiya and Naroda Gaon, the Muslim neighbourhoods in the area, had been reduced to a vast wasteland of death. Sliced up like vegetables, burnt like charcoal and, bearing the testimony of slaughter at its crudest, corpses lay scattered across what had been a lively human settlement barely a few hours before. Naroda was no nondescript, out-of the-way place. It was just five km from the local police control room and less than four km from Shahibaug, the Ahmedabad Police headquarters. A mob armed with lethal weapons went on a killing spree for over 10 hours, yet nothing moved in the administration, no reinforcements were dispatched, no effort was made to disperse the mob. Civil society has had no doubt that it was Chief Minister Narendra Modi who was to blame for the genocide. Survivors have alleged that the police played partisan. The police have retorted that it was a riot and they were outnumbered. The government has denied any acts of omission or commission on

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its part. Five years on, the trial for the carnage in Naroda Patiya and Naroda Gaon is yet to start. For the last three years, the Supreme Court has been sitting on a petition filed by the National Human Rights Commission and a few NGOs to have the case reinvestigated and transferred out of Gujarat. The accused are out on bail. Narendra Modi has won a landslide electoral victory and is preparing for another. Most survivors have shifted to ghettoes on Ahmedabad’s outskirts; the few who returned to their previous homes are living a marginalised life, under economic and social boycott by their Hindu neighbours. NARODA: LAYOUT AND DEMOGRAPHY About 15km from the centre of Ahmedabad city, Naroda Gaon and Naroda Patiya were once home to around 2,000 daily wage-earning Muslims, a majority of them migrants from Karnataka and Maharashtra. The area lies along a highway stretch just outside the city. Across the road from it is the State Transport warehouse; nearby are the Hindu-dominated Gopinath and Gangotri housing societies. Both Naroda Gaon and Naroda Patiya are over 70 years old and are typical urban slums; both come under the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation. The distance between the two is not more than a kilometre or so. While Naroda Gaon is relatively smaller, Naroda Patiya is a labyrinth of narrow lanes, flanked by close-packed, unsightly concrete structures, few of them higher than two storeys, inhabited by Muslims. Across the road from Naroda Patiya is Chharanagar, a large settlement of Chharas, a denotified tribe commonly deemed criminal and involved primarily in bootlegging and gambling. Though Hindu, Chharas are at the bottom of the caste hierarchy. WHO WERE THE ACCUSED? Two separate FIRs were registered for the Naroda Gaon and Naroda Patiya incidents. While only eight people were recorded as killed at Naroda Gaon, eyewitness accounts put the toll at Naroda Patiya in the hundreds. Nobody, however, knows exactly how many Muslims were killed at Naroda that day. Nobody, except, perhaps, the killers. Among the dozens of Sangh Parivar cadres whom survivors identified as their attackers, the names of BJP MLA Mayaben Kodnani and Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi came up repeatedly as having led the mob. When filing the chargesheet, however, the police refused to prosecute Kodnani, citing lack of evidence. Bajrangi was chargesheeted along with a few BJP and VHP workers and a couple of dozen Chharas. In all, the police named 49 people as accused in the Naroda Patiya incident, and the same number were accused for Naroda Gaon as well. There are many names in common between the two lists, among them Bajrangi’s. After absconding for over three months, Bajrangi was arrested amid high drama. Five months after his arrest, the Gujarat High Court granted him bail.

BABU BAJRANGI Just under 5’3”, Babu Bajrangi—whose family name is Patel — is a towering figure in Naroda. Twenty-two years of association with the VHP and its youth wing, the Bajrang Dal, has firmly established him as the most dreaded local thug. Today, Bajrangi lords it over Naroda, and over Chharanagar in particular, where he commands a substantial following. Many Chharas appear to hold him in great reverence; he, in turn, is all praise for the criminal abilities he claims they possess, they are his “weapons”, he says, “just kill, nothing else”. Bajrangi holds court at his office on the second floor of the Ajanta Ellora Shopping Complex, just off the highway that skirts Naroda. Though he claims to be a big builder with a steady monthly income of over a lakh and a half, his main vocation is beating up Muslims and Christians. “I just hate Muslims and Christians,” he says. And the cause dearest to his heart is to “rescue” Hindu girls who have married or eloped with Muslim boys. A majority of those who visit him each day are the parents of such girls. “When they go to the police, the cops don’t lodge a complaint, they send them to me,” Bajrangi claims. “Nine hundred and fifty-seven — that’s how many Hindu girls I have saved. On average, one girl married to a Muslim produces five children. So, in effect, I have killed 5,000 Muslims before they were born.” Bajrangi has other claims to fame too. It was he who, virtually single-handedly, stalled the release of the film Parzania in Ahmedabad. While he openly threatened cinema hall owners to keep them from screening the film, the administration remained mute. “The film was anti-Hindu,” is all the justification he needed. Bajrangi’s love for Hindus is defined by his hate for Muslims and everything about them. “I would not mind if I were condemned to death, but if they ask me my last wish, I would want to drop bombs in Muslim localities and kill ten to fifteen thousand Muslims before I die.” Apart from personal action, he has several suggestions for a “solution” to the “problem” of Muslim presence. “Delhi should issue orders to kill — higher caste people and the rich won’t do it but slum dwellers and the poor will and they should be ordered to. They should be told that they can take whatever they want of the Muslims — land,

wealth, houses, everything — but they should do it in three days.” This will ensure that Muslims are wiped out across India. Bajrangi’s second suggestion is to have Muslims allowed only one marriage and one child by law. Additionally, it would also be a good idea to deny them the right to vote. PREPARATIONS FOR GENOCIDE Bajrangi went to Godhra on February 27, the day of the Sabarmati fire. He told TEHELKA that after he saw the Sabarmati victims’ bodies, he took a vow to avenge Godhra on the Muslims of Naroda Patiya the very next day. “Humne unko wahi challenge kar diya tha ki isse chaar guna laash hum Patiya mein gira daalenge (I challenged the Muslims — I would see four times the number of dead in Godhra felled in Patiya),” Bajrangi told TEHELKA at the very first meeting. He returned to Ahmedabad and began preparations for the massacre that very night. Twenty-three small firearms were rounded up from such Hindus as owned them; those who were unwilling to part with their weapons were told they’d be killed the next day, even if they were Hindus. Large quantities of inflammable material were also acquired — Bajrangi told TEHELKA that one petrol pump owner gave him petrol for free, this he later used to burn Muslims alive. THE EXECUTION The VHP and Bajrang Dal men arrived at Naroda Patiya at around 10 the next morning. They led the first attack but were forced to retreat as the Muslims put up a strong resistance, said Suresh Richard, one of the key accused in the Naroda Patiya massacre. At this point, a large band of Bajrangi’s Chhara followers joined ranks with the saffron mob and mounted a fresh attack. By around 10.30am, they had managed to destroy the minaret of Naroda Patiya’s Noorani Masjid. Subsequently, as Richard told TEHELKA, a full fuel tanker was rammed into the building, it burst and was then set on fire. The fuel from the tanker was also used to burn Muslims and their homes. After the first round of assault, the Muslims barricaded themselves into their homes and remained there till around 3pm when the attack intensified. Between 5 and 6 that evening, the mob reached the height of its frenzy; many women and girls were first raped and then doused in kerosene and petrol and burnt. A few dozen Muslims were able to make it to a State Reserve Police Force camp nearby. Bajrangi told TEHELKA that but for the Muslim commandant of the camp, who sheltered some Muslims, the death toll would have been much higher. Some of the men in the Naroda attack were wearing khaki shorts and had saffron bands around their foreheads. According to witnesses, many were carrying jerrycans filled with kerosene, diesel and oil from the State Transport workshop. These they would empty on whoever came in range before setting them on fire; lit balls of fuel-soaked cloth were also thrown at those out of immediate reach. In Naroda is an open area with a large pit that is actually a cul de sac — a slope leads into it from one side but the other side is a sheer rise that cannot be scaled. Several Muslims had sheltered there; the mob surrounded the pit, poured fuel into it and set fire to it as well. Ninety-seven people are officially said to have died that day in Naroda Patiya, but the actual death toll was much higher, as can be gleaned from the detailed lists survivors have made of missing persons and of their kith and kin whom they saw dying. Most of the dead were charred or mutilated beyond recognition. “We hacked, we burnt, did a lot of that,” said Bajrangi. “We believe in setting them on fire because these bastards say they don’t want to be cremated, they’re afraid of it, they say this and that will happen to them.” An overwhelming majority of the survivors were never able to claim the bodies. Dozens of eyewitnesses who deposed before the Nanavati-Shah Commission recounted scenes of children being burnt alive and women being raped. “We didn’t spare any of them,” Bajrangi said. “They shouldn’t be allowed to breed. Whoever they are, even if they’re women or children, there’s nothing to be done with them; cut them down. Thrash them, slash them, burn the bastards.”

Photo: Paras Shah

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Kauser Bano, was nine months pregnant that day. Her belly was torn open and her foetus wrenched out, held aloft on the tip of a sword, then dashed to the ground and flung into a fire. Bajrangi recounts how he ripped apart “ek woh pregnant… b*******d sala”; how he showed Muslims the meaning of wrath—“If you harm us, we can respond — we’re no khichdi-kadhi lot”. The scale and ferocity of the attack forced all surviving residents of the settlement to run away. Every house was looted, some were burnt. Many survivors had to be hospitalised; many were separated from their families and were not re-united with them for a week to 10 days, some for much longer. Several women were left with nothing to cover themselves with and were escorted to the relief camp completely naked. Suresh Richard told TEHELKA that there were many instances of rape and he himself was involved in one of them.

TEHELKA: It is being said the Chharas also committed rapes… Richard: Now look, one thing is true… bhookhe ghuse to koi na koi to phal khayega, na [when thousands of hungry men go in, they will eat some fruit or the other, no]… Aise bhi, phal ko kuchal ke phek denge [in any case, the fruit is going to be crushed and thrown away]… Look, I’m not telling lies… Mata is before me [gesturing to an image of a deity]… Many Muslim girls were being killed and burnt to death, some men must have helped themselves to the fruit… TEHELKA:Must have been a couple of rapes… Richard: Might even have been more… then there were the rest of our brothers, our Hindu brothers, VHP people and RSS people… Anyone could have helped themselves… who wouldn’t, when there’s fruit?… The more you harm them, the less it is… I really hate them… don’t want to spare them… Look, my wife is sitting here but let me say… the fruit was there so it had to be eaten… I ate too… I ate once. TEHELKA: Just once? Richard: Just once… then I had to go killing again… [turns to relative Prakash Rathod and talks about the girl he had raped and killed]… the scrap dealer’s daughter Naseemo... Naseemo that juicy plump one… I got on top… TEHELKA: You got on top of her… Richard: Yes, properly… TEHELKA: She didn’t survive, did she? Richard: No, then I pulped her… Made her into a pickle… Another victim, 22-year-old Sufiya Bano, was raped and burnt in front of her father. The Civil Hospital, where she was admitted and later died, confirmed the attack on her. When her father, Abdul Majid, a witness who deposed before the Nanavati-Shah Commission, tried to save his daughter, he was brutally seized and held and his beard cut off. Apart from Sufiya Bano, six other members of this family were killed: three boys — Mehmood, Ayub and Hussain; two other girls — Afrin Bano and Shahin Bano; and their mother, Lalibibi. At 22, Sufiya was the eldest of her siblings; seven-year-old Hussain and four-year old Shahin Bano were the youngest. Police Commissioner PC Pandey came to Naroda Patiya only later that night, at around one. As he surveyed the devastation, he said the place looked worse than even the battlefields of Haldighati. So Bajrangi said. On the day of the massacre, Richard told TEHELKA, BJP MLA Mayaben Kodnani drove around Naroda, exhorting the rioters to kill as many as they could. Worse yet, Bajrangi revealed that he had been giving VHP general secretary Jaideep Patel a blow-by-blow account of the massacre on his mobile phone. He said he made 11 calls to Patel, providing him the latest death toll each time, until his phone went dead. That evening, Bajrangi says, he also called up then Minister of State for Home Gordhan Zadaphia, and told him how many he had killed and said that it was now up to Zadaphia to keep him out of trouble with the law. He went to bed that night feeling like Maharana Pratap, he says. He didn’t manage to meet Narendra Modi when the Gujarat CM visited the locality that evening. Modi never made it into the interior of Naroda Patiya, says Bajrangi. “Not even God had the power to enter Naroda Patiya that day.” THE ROLE OF THE POLICE

'They shouldn't be allowed to breed. I say this even today, even if they are women or children'-Babu Bajrangi

Bajrangi was emphatic in his claim that the killings would never have been possible had the police not looked the other way. There was only one entrance to Naroda Patiya, he said, “like a housing society”, and there were some 50 policemen posted there. “They could have ripped us apart,” he said. “But, though they saw everything, they kept their eyes and mouths shut.” Richard said that the police fired at Muslims who were under attack. He also said that late that night, after the rioting had died down, some policemen specially told the Chharas to kill Muslims hiding in a ditch.

'Many Muslim girls were being killed. Some men must have helped themselves to the fruit'-Suresh Richard

THE COVER-UP TEHELKA in collaboration with advocate Somnath Vatsa of NGO Action Aid — whose Ahmedabad chapter has been fighting for justice for the victims of the 2002 massacre — carried out a threadbare analysis of the police investigation and the chargesheets filed in the Naroda Patiya and Naroda Gaon massacres. We found that far from punishing the guilty, the police were involved in a massive cover-up.

'Mayaben (a local MLA) patrolled the streets, urging the rioters to kill more Muslims'-Prakash Rathod

Bodies disposed of to diminish magnitude of crime: Once the massacre was over, the first task before the police was to whittle down the death toll. The larger the number of deaths, the more vociferous the outcry from civil society. As Bajrangi details, the police had the bodies from Naroda Patiya rounded up and dumped at various places across the city. According to Bajrangi, over 200 people had died that day; late that night, then Ahmedabad

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Police Comissioner PC Pandey came to Naroda and ordered the police to have the bodies removed. “They were piled up in trucks, it took so many vehicles, some were even stuffed into jeeps.” When the bodies were collected the second time and brought to the Civil Hospital for the post-mortem, they were recorded as being from the area where they were found. In this manner, the police managed to keep the death count down to 105, 97 from Naroda Patiya and eight from Naroda Gaon. The post-mortem records show that even these 105 bodies from Naroda were brought to the hospital piecemeal, with the last few bodies being brought in a full four days after the massacre. No autopsies on 41 bodies:With one piece of evidence destroyed, the police moved on to the next stage. The bodies — charred, hacked at, bearing shot wounds, stab marks and marks of rape — could have been strong evidence of a brutal massacre and of the administration’s complicity. They might have served as a potent indication of the fact that this was no spontaneous act of rioting but a systematic pogrom. But the police did not carry out post-mortems on as many as 41 bodies recovered from Naroda Patiya and Naroda Gaon. No explanation has been offered for this act of grave negligence and omission.

Ninety-seven bodies had inquest panchnamas filed, a legal procedure under which the police, in the presence of two socalled “independent” witnesses, or panchas, physically verify the place from which the bodies were recovered and the nature of injuries on them and record their findings in writing. Thus, by their own records, the police recovered at least 97 bodies from Naroda Patiya. But, shockingly post-mortems were performed on only 58. Of the bodies recovered from Naroda Gaon, autopsies were not carried out on two. Apart from providing irrefutable evidence of the scale of the barbarity perpetrated that day, the autopsies, if done honestly, could have established the time of death, which would have given a fair indication of the total duration of the slaughter. These reports could have been a strong piece of evidence in court. But this is exactly what the police did not want. Crucial evidence destroyed: The scene of a crime gives an investigating agency its most critical pieces of evidence. In Naroda Patiya and Naroda Gaon, the accused had left behind a trail that the police set out to systematically obliterate. The pit in which a large number of people were burnt alive was not even examined — no samples were taken of the soil, of the traces of human tissue or of the remains of burnt fuel. On the contrary, the pit does not even figure in the police version of the massacre. The dying declarations of as many as seven victims were not recorded; two of them died on March 11 after prolonged treatment, but no explanation is forthcoming in the chargesheet of why their statements were not recorded. BJP MLA exonerated: Naroda massacre survivors had named local BJP MLA Mayaben Kodnani as having incited the murderous mob. However, at the time of filing the chargesheet for the carnage, the police dropped her name from the list of the accused, claiming that they had failed to find any evidence against her. But Richard had much to say about the role she had played. Richard and his co-accused Prakash Rathod said that Mayaben patrolled the streets of Naroda Patiya throughout the day, urging the rioters to kill more Muslims. Destruction of Noorani Masjid not investigated: In its records of what it found at the scene of the offence, the police mention the presence of an oil tanker, manufactured by Ashok Leyland, near the Noorani Masjid, with its rear in contact with the wall of the mosque. Its front number plate was intact and read GT-1T 7384. But the tanker was not seized. The Road Transport Office was not contacted to determine its ownership. No samples of its contents were taken for forensic examination. In fact, it is still a mystery as to how a tanker of this size managed to “sneak in” so close to the Noorani Masjid, a place where there were over 12 police personnel on “constant vigil”.

Photo: Cherian Thomas

No proceedings against absconding prime accused: Many main accused went absconding after the police was forced to register an FIR against them. Babu Bajrangi, Kishan Korani, Prakash Rathod and Suresh Richard, for instance, were arrested three months after the FIR was issued. Bipin Panchal was arrested after a year and a half. But the police did not follow any of the usual procedures used when an accused absconds, such as pasting notices outside the accused’s house declaring him an absconder, confiscating his properties, etc. Not one confession recorded: Those arrested for the Naroda Patiya and Naroda Gaon massacres were taken in on remand — a period the court grants to the police to take an accused into custody for interrogation. But the remand and interrogation were a farce. Not one confession has been annexed to the chargesheets filed in either of the Naroda massacres. Just one weapon recovered: Barring one sword recovered from Bipin Panchal in 2004, the police have not recovered any other weapon either from the scene of the crime or from any other accused. The survivors, however, had testified that their attackers, including the accused, were heavily armed with an assortment of weapons — knives, swords, trishuls, gas cylinders and firearms. In an instance where as many as 105 people, according to the police’s own admission, were butchered, the failure to recover any weapon used in the massacre speaks volumes for the quality of the investigation carried out. In fact, the owner of a gas agency had given a written statement that 20-odd persons with a Maruti van had landed up at his godown on the day of the carnage and had looted a large number of gas cylinders. The agency owner said his watchman had been present when the incident took place. But neither was the statement of the watchman recorded, nor was any attempt made to identify those involved in the looting or to track down the vehicle used in the crime. Not one accused sent for scientific examination: Since not a single statement of any of the accused was recorded under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code, it would indicate that the police failed to elicit any information by conventional interrogation methods. The next step would have been to subject the accused to scientific examinations like a polygraph test or narcoanalysis or brain mapping. The police, however, initiated no efforts in this direction. No mention made of rapes: Three chargesheets apiece were filed in the Naroda Gaon and Naroda Patiya massacres. However, despite the testimonies of dozens of survivors who had reported that women were raped, not a single instance of rape was recorded. At least one post-mortem indicated a possible case of sexual assault, yet no investigations in this direction were carried out. (It should be noted that since autopsies on 41 bodies were not carried out, there is no ascertaining how many of them were women’s and whether they bore marks of sexual assault.) Mobile phone recovered from the spot not examined: On the day of the massacre, a survivor named Mirja Hussain Biwi Moherble recovered a mobile phone near her residence in Naroda Patiya. It had been inadvertently dropped by one of the accused, and was handed over to the police. On enquiry, Additional Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch, AK Surolia found that it belonged to one Ashok Sindhi, an accused in the massacre. Surolia launched a massive investigation and started collecting the call records of Babu Bajrangi and other accused, including Sindhi (Letters from Surolia addressed to telecom companies asking for phone records are with TEHELKA. We also have handwritten notes by him in which he observed that he believed Bajrangi “to be behind all this”.) But before the investigation could go any further, Surolia was transferred. Once he was gone, the police stopped

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looking into Sindhi’s phone records. In the three chargesheets filed in the Naroda Patiya massacre, no mention has been made of any cellphone belonging to an accused being recovered from the scene of the crime. Mobile phone records of the accused not made part of the chargesheet: After the case was transferred to the Crime Branch of the Ahmedabad Police, the then DCP Rahul Sharma proceeded to collect the mobile phone call records of all the accused. But, a few weeks into the probe, he was unceremoniously taken off it and the case was handed over to Deputy Commissioner of Police DG Vanzara. Sharma, however, managed to make a copy of all the call records and produced it before the Nanavati-Shah Commission. These call records are a piece of strong corroborative evidence establishing not only how all the accused were making frantic calls to each other while the Naroda massacre was in progress, but also that they were present at the spot. Call records have not been included as evidence in the chargesheets.

No mention made of use of firearms: In the chargesheets, the police have only said that the mob was carrying sharp-edged weapons (of which only one has been recovered so far). The police have ruled out the use of any kind of firearm by the mob. The injury certificates of most of the survivors who were treated for gunshot wounds were not made part of the chargesheets; all the same, clear mentions of gunshot wounds did find their way into four injury certificates annexed with the chargesheets. One postmortem report also attributes the death to a firearm injury. The dimensions of the entry and exit wounds in all five cases show that the wounds were inflicted by small firearms and not by police rifles. In any case, though the police have claimed to have fired 91 rounds to disperse the mob, it is not their case that anyone was injured in police firing. As to how these five people sustained bullet injuries, the entire investigation is silent.

No identification parades carried out: In the case of both the Naroda massacres, dozens of witnesses have stated that were the accused to be shown to them, they would identify their attackers. Yet, except for Ashok Sindhi, the police did not conduct any identification parades of the accused. The identification parade is of immense importance in cases of mob violence. THE INVISIBLE HAND In the course of their conversations with TEHELKA, numerous accused spoke appreciatively of the role of the police, and named senior Sangh Parivar functionaries, for their role in the carnage, including MoS for Home Gordhan Zadaphia, whom Bajrangi spoke to after the massacre. When so many arms of the government were involved at so many levels, was the man who headed the state also involved? TEHELKA asked Bajrangi this question. In reply, the Naroda massacres prime accused said that Chief Minister Narendra Modi had visited Naroda twice after the massacre — first, in the evening of the day of the massacre, when he came to the locality but was unable to enter it, and second, on the next day, when he went inside Naroda Patiya. On both visits, Modi had encouraged the murderers, Bajrangi said, and told them that whatever they had done was good and that they should do even more. Suresh Richard corroborated this account and said that Modi had also visited Chharanagar on the evening of the massacre and garlanded the rioters. Bajrangi said that if Modi had not told the police to stand back, the massacre would never have been possible. But Modi’s support to the rioters did not stop at the facilitation of the killings. Bajrangi said after the Naroda killings, Modi kept him in hiding for more than four months and then stage-managed his arrest. If that was not enough he also brought in a favourable judge to hear Bajrangi’s bail petition and got him out of jail.

Nov 03, 2007

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Photo: Cherian Thomas

Dance Of Hate Safehouse Of Horrors

Petrified Muslims in the area flocked to Gulbarg, sure of refuge for it housed former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri. Their worst fears came alive

Shell-shock Qasimbhai(foreground) of Gulbarg, who lost 19 members of his family. Photo:Cherian Thomas

IN THE FIVE months of TEHELKA’S investigation into the Gujarat genocide, many rioters and conspirators spoke of their role at length. But there was one place that had not been covered — Gulbarg. The housing society, situated in the eastern part of Ahmedabad, was once home to former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri. Despite the presence of a police contingent, a Hindu mob had laid siege to the society on the morning of February 28. For over five hours, Jafri kept making desperate phone calls to the police commissioner, to the chief minister’s office, to Congress leaders in Delhi and to his friends, pleading for help. For over five hours, about 30 Muslim families in the society prayed and hoped that they would be rescued. Along with them were many Muslims from the adjoining slums who had taken shelter in Gulbarg, thinking that a society housing a Congress leader would be an unassailable refuge. Finally, at around 2:30pm, the mob stormed into the society and killed whoever they could lay their hands on. The official death toll was 39. But the survivors claimed that a far greater number were killed. Jafri himself was burnt alive. The remains of his body were never found. Those killed at Gulbarg and Naroda were given a mass burial in freshly dug graves in a Muslim graveyard at Ahmedabad on March 6, 2002. During TEHELKA’S last meeting with Babu Bajrangi on September 1, 2007, Bajrangi mentioned that he knew many VHP activists who were accused in the Gulbarg massacre. He said the VHP was not taking good care of them and that he could arrange a meeting if required. On September 8, I flew to Ahmedabad to meet the Gulbarg accused. One of Bajrangi’s office assistants took me to Meghaninagar, the area where Gulbarg society was situated. We decided to meet on the road opposite Gulbarg society. The desolation of the society (it’s abandoned now), located in the middle of a bustling, colourful neighbourhood, was eerie. The iron gate at the front, the walls within, the windows, the doors, the roof, they were all of the same colour — charcoal black. Shopkeepers, hawkers, neighbours, passers-by, all went about their business without sparing a glance for this piece of land. We waited there for almost 20 minutes before two senior local VHP leaders arrived. One of them, Mahesh

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Patel, owned a shop close by. These two VHP men do not themselves figure in the police charge sheet but they were to introduce me to those named in the list of accused. Mahesh Patel took me to his house and sent word to the accused to gather at his place. Patel gave me a run-down of the things the VHP had done for the accused — from providing food in jail, to sending money to their families, to arranging legal aid (For Patel, I was an RSS man who had come down from Delhi to assess how the Hindu riots accused were keeping). About 40 minutes later, three accused — Prahlad Raju, Mangilal Jain and Madan Chawal arrived (39 Hindus were chargesheeted but at that time only these three were available). To begin with, they demolished the grand claims made by Patel that the VHP took good care of them. Their list of complaints was long and bitter. I took their phone numbers and left after promising that I would ensure their complaints were properly addressed and that they received more help from the VHP and RSS in future. On my way back, I called up Mangilal Jain on his cellphone and told him to see me at my hotel near Ahmedabad airport. I told him to bring along the other two as well.

THE SIEGE OF GULBARG Prahlad Raju said the VHP and Bajrang Dal activists passed through Meghaninagar in large numbers early that day. They were out to enforce the bandh called by the VHP. He said he joined the groups at about 8:30am. He said many activists were carrying tridents in their belts. Mangilal Jain added that many in the mob also had sticks and carted litres of petrol in their cars. According to Madan Chawal, some in the mob were also carrying firearms. Chawal said that soon after the VHP activists arrived, someone set a shop owned by a Muslim on fire. At this point, Chawal, who ran a grocery here, also joined the mob. WHO LED THE MOB? Chawal, Jain and Raju said that two VHP leaders — Atul Vaid and Bharat Teli — and a local Congress leader Megh Singh were leading the mob. HOW EHSAN JAFRI WAS KILLED Soon, the mob gheraoed Gulbarg society. While there were 30 to 35 Muslim families residing in the society, poor Muslims from adjoining slums had also taken shelter within the compound. Since the gates of the society were closed and the boundary walls enclosing the society were high, a few in the mob blasted the wall from the front and the rear. Chawal said, “The mob took cylinders from other houses. The cylinders were placed along the wall and set afire… resulting in an explosion that damaged the almost two-feet thick wall.” He said some from the mob scaled the almost 20-foot wall by rope. Alarmed at the mob ambushing the complex, Jafri began to make frantic calls to police officers and political leaders. When nothing seemed to work, the accused told TEHELKA, Jafri opened fire on the mob and injured a few people. Then he offered the mob money pleading for them to spare him and the other Muslims in Gulbarg. At this, the mob told him to come down to them with the money. Jain said that as soon as he stepped out, Jafri dropped the money on the ground and tried to rush back. But the mob pounced on him. Chawal recalled the killing: “Paanch-chheh jan pakad liye the, phir usko jaise pakad ke khada rakha phir logon mein se kisi ne talwar maari… haath kaate… haath kaat ke phir pair kaate… phir na sab kaat dala… phir tukde kar ke phir lakda jo lagaye thhe, lakde uspe rakh ke phir jala daala… zinda jala daala… (Five or six people held him, then someone struck him with a sword… chopped off his hand, then his legs… then everything else… after cutting him to pieces, they put him on the wood they’d piled and set it on fire… burnt him alive…)” After killing Jafri, the mob dragged out other Muslims and slaughtered them and set them on fire. At around 4.30 in the evening, the police finally dispersed the mob and the survivors were rescued. THE COMPLICIT POLICE According to the three accused, the police not only gave them a free hand, but also exhorted the rioters to kill Muslims. Mangilal Jain said that the police inspector in-charge of Meghaninagar police station, KG Erda told the rioters that they had three to four hours to carry out killings. TEHELKA found that the police inspector had given this time since extra forces were expected to be in Ahmedabad that evening.

Jain said some in the police kept away, indicating to the rioters that they were to do whatever they wished in those few hours. This further fuelled the mob’s frenzy all over Ahmedabad and led to the deaths of many more Muslims. Raju also told TEHELKA that police personnel deployed in the area not only stood back but signalled to the rioters to go for the kill. Erda arrived to “rescue” the survivors after the massacre was almost over. At this point, relates Chawal, the rioters approached Erda and told him he was not doing the right thing as the survivors could testify against them. So Erda came up with a heinous plan — as the van carrying the survivors drew away from Gulbarg, the rioters were to pelt stones at it so the constable on the vehicle could claim to have been scared off. He would flee and the mob could then torch it. But the plan could not be executed because of the timely intervention of a Muslim inspector called Pathan, Chawal said.

THE COVER-UP

What remains Five years on, the complex is deserted. Photo:Cherian Thomas

The three accused TEHELKA spoke to said the actual toll was much higher than the official figure but the police had told the mob to dispose of the bodies to reduce the magnitude of the crime. The cover-up continued even after the investigation was initiated. All three spoke to TEHELKA of the royal treatment they received at the hands of the Crime Branch officials investigating the case. They all said that they were extended the best hospitality when they were in police custody and were not interrogated at all. Being in police custody itself, the three said, was a farce, a formality the cops needed to comply with. Chawal said DG Vanzara, who was then posted as DCP (Crime) and was the investigating officer of the Gulbarg massacre, never asked him to reveal anything about the massacre. The three said they lied in their police statements and the police didn’t pressurise them to tell the truth. Dozens of survivors wrote to the Ahmedabad police commissioner saying that their statements had been recorded incorrectly by the police. One survivor, Mohammad Raffik Pathan, made a sworn affidavit to the police commissioner stating that four assailants whom he had identified and named before the police were not included in his final statement. Another, Mohammad Sayeed, stated that nine of the assailants he had named were omitted from his statement while four persons whom he had named were included. Despite dozens of such representations, the police refused to correct the glaring discrepancies.

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Many victims had told the police that they had seen VHP leaders Bharat Teli and Atul Vaid in the mob. As is recorded on the TEHELKA spycam, the three Gulbarg accused have corroborated the presence in the mob of the two VHP leaders. But the police is yet to include their names in the chargesheet.

Nov 03, 2007

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Godhra: The Diabolic Lie

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How spontaneous mob fury was shown as a premeditated conspiracy by the police who produced fake witnesses by bribing, coercion and torture Overview READ » Twice Burnt Still Simmering Untenable theories, bribed witnesses, coerced statements. In a staggering investigation, ASHISH KHETAN uncovers the deliberate and malicious subversion of the truth in Godhra READ » Open Case: Gaping Loopholes READ »

Shut Case: Proof Of Subversion READ »

Forensic File READ » Nov 03, 2007

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Godhra: The Diabolic Lie Overview: The Anatomy Of Manufactured Lies

What really happened at Godhra can only be known by sifting fact from fiction. TEHELKA exposes the police’s case in Godhra

THE STORY AT A GLANCE For five years, Chief Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP government in Gujarat have evoked the Sabarmati Express tragedy at Godhra as a justification for the cataclysmic pogrom of Muslims that followed. They claim the arson was not just the horrible result of mob fury spinning out of control, but a premeditated communal conspiracy. TEHELKA’s painstaking six-month long investigation exposed a disturbing trail of lies and subversion through force and bribery. This, in brief, is the story of its findings. THE POLICE VERSION The broadstrokes of the police’s claims are as follows: Several religious and political Muslim leaders of Godhra — Maulvi Umarji; two Muslim corporators, Bilal Haji and Farooq Bhana; a guesthouse owner, Rajjak Kurkur; and a hawker, Salim Paanwala conspired to burn coach S-6 (not just any coach but, for some unexplained reason, coach S-6 in particular) of the Sabarmati Express on February 27,

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2002. Mohammad Hussain Kalota Shaikh, then president of the Godhra Municipal Council, and two Muslim corporators, Salim Shaikh and Abdur Rahman Dhantiya were among the mob, inciting people to burn the train. However, the police do not claim to know if these men were also involved in the conspiracy. The police claim coach S-6 was set on fire after a large quantity of petrol was poured on its floor. They say 140 litres of this petrol was bought on February 26, 2002 from Kalabhai’s petrol pump, owned by a Muslim. The petrol was carried the next morning by nine Muslim hawkers, and inexplicably, one reluctant Hindu hawker, to Cabin A, where the Sabarmati Express had stalled. The Sabarmati Express halted at Cabin A, not because of chainpulling by karsevaks but by three Muslim hawkers who scaled three different coaches of the moving train and turned the discs. (It is important the police prove this or their conspiracy theory falls flat. After all, had the train not halted outside Cabin A, how could the hawkers have set fire to S-6?) The police claim that some hawkers cut the 6-inch thick vestibule connecting coaches S-6 and S-7 with ordinary scissors and entered S-6. They then poured petrol on the floor of the coach. Some petrol was also thrown inside through a broken window. POLICE EVIDENCE TO BACK THEIR THEORY The police’s case rests chiefly on statements by nine BJP party members who claim to be eyewitnesses. Between them they have identified and accused 41 Godhra Muslims. (Dileep Dasadiya, one the nine BJP men, has since completely retracted his statement.) The case also rests on statements by karsevaks travelling in S-6 and other coaches. Their claim: the mob was throwing petrol and kerosene, acid bulbs, petrol bulbs and mashaals through broken windows and sprinkling inflammable liquid on the coach. Three karsevaks first clai med they’d fainted due to the smoke and not seen anything. Two months later, they changed their stand and said they’d seen some liquid being poured on the floor of the coach. These new statements were recorded on May 7, 2002 — 15 days before the first charge sheet — and became the main thrust of the police case. Though it discounted that S-6 was set on fire by inflammable liquid thrown through the window or sprinkled on the exterior of the coach, the forensic report claimed “60 litres of petrol may have been thrown along the floor of the coach from the southern direction...” This became the accepted theory. A month and a half after the first chargesheet, the police produced a “know-all witness” — Ajay Baria, a Hindu tea vendor, who inexplicably claimed he’d been forcibly taken along by nine Muslim hawkers to load petrol and set S-6 on fire. Baria, the cornerstone of their case, now lives under close police vigil. Two weeks after arresting them, the police produced two Muslim hawkers — Illias Hussain and Anwar Kalandar — who said they had scaled the train and turned the discs to stop it. Both have since retracted through affidavits in the Supreme Court. A Muslim hawker, Jabir Binyamin Bahera, confessed he was part of the group of hawkers that had cut the vestibule and poured the petrol along the floor of the coach. He said two Muslim corporators — Bilal Haji and Farooq Bhana — had told him coach S-6 had to be burnt as Maulvi Umarji had instructed. Bahera has since retracted his statement through an affidavit in court. A year after the incident, the police produced two Hindu salesmen — Prabhatsingh Patel and Ranjitsingh Patel — employed by Kalabhai petrol pump, who claimed they’d sold 140 litres of petrol to the accused on the evening of February 26, 2002. Significantly, the two had first said they’d not sold any loose petrol to anybody on that day or the evening before. They now have 24 hour police protection. Sikandar Siddik is another police witness. He clai med he saw Muslim hawkers setting S-6 on fire and that Maulvi Umarji told him he was paying Rs 1,500 to the accused. He also said he’d seen corporators — Bilal Haji and Farooq Bhana — near the coach. Additionally, he said he saw Maulvi Yakub Punjabi inciting the mob. (The police detained

Punjabi, but had to let him go be c a use Punjabi was not in India but in Saudi Arabia at the time of the incident.) The police also used confessions from six other Muslim hawkers who, according to the police, admitted to their role in the burning of coach S-6 at the behest of Maulvi Umarji and the Muslim corporators. All six have since retracted their confessions. The truth of what really happened in Godhra can only be known by discarding what did not happen. TEHELKA’s investigation uncovered some heinous fictions. FICTION The two salesmen — Ranjitsingh Patel and Prabhatsingh Patel — who claimed they sold 140 litres of petrol to Muslim hawkers in their statements were actually bribed by the chief investigating officer, Noel Parmar, to say this and falsely identify people. TEHELKA caught Ranjitsingh on camera admitting to this. The amount paid to each was Rs 50,000. FICTION The nine BJP members who identified 41 Muslims were actually not even present at the station that day. The TEHELKA undercover reporter caught two of them — Kakul Pathak and Murli Mulchandani — on camera, categorically admitting that they were not there that day, and that the police had filed statements in their name without their knowledge and they had colluded to serve Hindutva. ’ FICTION Illias Hussain and Anwar Kalandar who were arrested by the police and made to claim that they had turned the discs that stopped the train at Cabin A were actually tortured by Noel Parmar and his team into doing so. Illias told the TEHELKA reporter that while they were in custody, Parmar’s men would put a log on his leg and walk on it. Kalandar said they had put electric current on his genitals. A year after their statements to the police, the two had returned from enforced exile and retracted their statements through an affidavit in court. FICTION Ajay Baria, the inexplicable Hindu vendor whose statement seemed to stitch the police’s theory neatly into place, is no longer allowed to live in Godhra. He is tailed by two policemen round the clock. TEHELKA could not speak to him directly but spoke to his mother. The mother said Baria had become a police witness out of fear. FICTION Maulvi Umarji, whose alleged role in the conspiracy, is crucial to uphold the police’s theory was not present at the site during the incident. The allegations against him rest on two statements. Significantly, Jabir Bin Bahera, who first named him, later retracted his statement. Sikandar Siddik, the other witness who named Umarji, proved himself unreliable — he had named Maulvi Yakub Punjabi as well as Umarji. It turned out Punjabi wasn’t even in India on the day of the incident. FICTION The forensic report had effectively demolished the police and State’s contention that S-6 was burnt by inflammable liquid either thrown in through broken windows or sprinkled outside the coach. The new and current theory that S-6 was burnt because of petrol thrown along its floor is based on the statements of three karsevaks who, just three months earlier, had said they had fainted due to the smoke and thus seen nothing.

Nov 03, 2007

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Godhra: The Diabolic Lie

Twice Burnt Still Simmering

Untenable theories, bribed witnesses, coerced statements. In a staggering investigation, ASHISH KHETAN uncovers the deliberate and malicious subversion of the truth in Godhra

Page 50: We Forget Our Shame

The Inferno Coach S-6 of the Sabarmati Express on fire on February 27,2002. Photo:AP

The bigger the lie, the more people believe it. Adolf Hitler THERE WERE no ill portents as the Sabarmati Express drew into Godhra station at 7:43am on February 27, 2002, five hours behind schedule. The last of winter still hung in the air, and elsewhere in the country, people were busying themselves with an ordinary new day, getting to school or work or back to sleep, when the news began to break. A fire was raging through the crammed coach S-6 of the Sabarmati Express, stalled just outside Godhra station. Fifty-nine people had been burnt to death — some karsevaks returning from Ayodhya, some ordinary passengers on their way back to Gujarat from Sultanpur, Allahabad and Lucknow.

The country was horrified by the gruesome tragedy, but there was no immediate sense then that the incident at Godhra was to become one of the most corrosive ruptures in our nation’s recent history. As 24-hour news channels across the country played and replayed the gory and traumatic pictures, tension mounted. Angry — and valid — questions were asked. How did the fire start? Who were the perpetrators? Was it an accident or an act of arson? If arson, was it preplanned or spontaneous?

The horrific deaths at Godhra cried out for the truth. And justice. Gujarat, already fragmented, already simmering with latent communal hostility, now brimmed with a dangerous and restive anger. What people had needed then was justice, the uncompromised truth — and a healing touch from their government.

Instead, within a few hours, the incident at Godhra — heinous as it already was — began to be converted into a lethal communal hacksaw. The charred bodies were taken from hospitals and paraded in emotive processions across the state. The 59 dead were not allowed the dignity of individual identities, but morphed into one terrifying, unified, rage-inducing idea: Hindu karsevaks murdered by Muslims. And in less than 12 hours — even before the first tentative facts could be established, even before the police had registered their first FIR, even while the post mortems of the dead were still on — Chief Minister Narendra Modi issued a press release declaring war: “The abominable event that has occurred at Godhra does not befit any civilized society,” he said. “This is not a mere communal event but a one-sided collective terrorist attack by one community.”

The first of the fires began to burn that night itself. Over the next three days, more than 2,000 Muslims were killed. Hacked, shot, burnt, raped. Thousands of Muslim houses were burned, dozens of mosques desecrated. The rhetoric of hate reached a fever pitch. They had it coming, Modi said.

The truth about Godhra underlies everything cataclysmic that happened afterwards. The truth about Godhra underlies one of the most dangerous and polarising faultlines in India. The truth about Godhra underlies the very way we see ourselves as a nation.

For five years, Modi — and the political spectrum he represents — has sought moral refuge in the claim that the genocide in Gujarat was a spontaneous reaction to a premeditated action. For five years, he and his government have claimed that the incident in Godhra was not a spontaneous burst of mob fury that got out of hand, but a conspiracy pre-planned by significant religious and political Muslim leaders. For five years, the Modi administration’s justification of the pogrom in Gujarat has largely hinged on the culpability of eight men: the president of the Godhra Municipal Council, Mohammad Hussain Kalota Shaikh; four Muslim corporators — Bilal Haji, Farooq Mohammad Bhana, Salim Shaikh and Abdul Rahman Dhantiya; two Muslim advocates — Rol Amin Hussain Hathila and Habib Karim Shaikh; and the local religious head, Maulvi Umarji.

For five years, the people, the courts, and the press have been told that they are the killers. It is the entire basis of Modi’s action-reaction theory. Subtract these eight religious and political figures from the list of 134 accused in the Sabarmati Express fire and what remains are sundry hawkers, labourers and truck drivers. Subtract the political and religious names from the list of Godhra accused and what remains is a criminal but spontaneous act of arson. Subtract the political and religious angle to the Godhra tragedy, and Modi’s diabolic action-reaction theory comes crashing down.

So were these eight men culpable?

Some political groups and some sections of civil society have claimed that Modi himself was behind the blaze in Godhra. They claim he got coach S-6 burned so that he could orchestrate a pogrom and reap its political dividends.

Is that the truth?

TEHELKA undertook a six-month long investigation to get at the truth of what really happened in Godhra. The painstaking investigation uncovered a web of lies entwined with truth, a mash of fact served up with fiction. Our quest shocked us: not because the truth was hard to find, but because it was in abundance, it was everywhere, in case papers, in statements of survivors, out in the streets. Our quest shocked us: not because the truth itself is shocking, but because the elaborate and malicious way in which it has been subverted is. What we found tears at the status quo and demands redressal. It proves everything Modi and his government have been claiming is a lie. Not just an ordinary lie, but a deliberate and manufactured one. Executed through bribery and coercion.

This is the story of what we found. As always, the truth is in the details.

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Missing links A policeman surveys the burnt wreckage of coach S-6. Photo:Reuters

THE ARRIVAL: Sabarmati Express enters Godhra station 7:43AM. February 27, 2002. Sabarmati Express, Train No. 9166 UP, carrying karsevaks on their way back from Ayodhya arrives on platform No. 1 at Godhra railway station. The train is nearly five hours behind schedule.

THE FIRST PROVOCATION: Karsevaks clash with Muslim tea vendors on the platform A key element in the Godhra case is the question, what catalysed the mob? The Modi government claims it was an unprovoked, pre-planned act. This is belied by the testimonies of two passengers who were aboard coach S-6 and were lucky to survive the inferno. Both men were not karsevaks or members of the VHP or Bajrang Dal, but ordinary passengers traveling back from their native places to Ahmedabad, where they were working at the time. Both told the police that there was a quarrel on the platform between karsevaks and tea vendors. These are their testimonies.

Laltakumar Balkrishan Jadhav, 32, Deputy Manager (Civil) in Gandhigram Gas Authority of India Limited, travelling from Guna in Madhya Pradesh — his hometown — to Ahmedabad. Jadhav had a reservation for seat number 32 in coach S-7 but karsevaks did not allow him to board the coach. “Thereupon,” says Jadhav in his statement, “I requested an army man standing at the door of S-6 and he spared me some space and allowed me to keep my bags and stand there. Thus I had started my journey on February 26, 2002 at 20.15pm in coach no. S-6 of Sabarmati Express. On February 27, 2002, Sabarmati Express had arrived on platform number 1 of Godhra railway station. I had not alighted from the train. At that time there was some verbal quarrel between the karsevaks and activists of Bajrang Dal and the hawkers.”

Govindsingh Ratnasing Pande, 46, army man, posted at Ahmedabad, travelling from Lucknow to Ahmedabad: “I had a reservation on berth number 9 in coach no. S-6 in Sabarmati Express. The train arrived at 1:15am at Lucknow station on 26.2.2002. I boarded coach no S-6 and found five to six ladies sitting on seat number 9. I showed them my ticket and told them to vacate the seat. Thereupon one person from Bajrang Dal, of age 50-52 years, told me the ladies would find it difficult to go to the upper berth and asked me to take berth number 3. After putting my luggage under berth number 9, I seated myself on berth number 3. There were about 250 people in the coach, most of the passengers were sitting without reservation and were members of Bajrang Dal. On every station where the train would stop, Bajrang Dal members would get down on the platform and shout slogans of Jai Shri Ram. On

27.2.2002, between 7:30am to 7:45am, the train had reached platform number 1 of Godhra railway station. I therefore got up. Ten to twelve members of Bajrang Dal had alighted from my coach and started to shout slogans of Jai Shri Ram. At that time, I had felt that members of Bajrang Dal had also alighted from other coaches and were shouting slogans of Jai Shri Ram. There was loud noise on the platform. After three to four minutes, a few people from Bajrang Dal came running inside the coach and after closing the door shouted that a quarrel had taken place on the platform and stones were being pelted. They told everybody to shut the windows and doors.”

THE SECOND PROVOCATION: Some karsevaks try to abduct a Muslim girl from the platform There was more than just a verbal quarrel on the platform. Some karsevaks had tried to abduct a Muslim girl from the platform. Sophia Bano M. Shaikh, a little less than 18 years old, accompanied by her mother and sister, were visiting relatives in Godhra and had come to the railway station to board a train for their hometown, Vadodara. Though their statements were recorded by the police on March 28, 2002 — a month after the Godhra incident — the police neither mentioned the episode nor included their statements in the first chargesheet that was filed on May 22, 2002. These statements were only made a part of the first supplementary chargesheet filed four months later, on September 20, 2002, as part of the chain of events that led to setting the train on fire.

In her police statement, Sophia states: “My mother, sister and I left from my uncle’s house on foot at around 7:30am and came to Godhra railway station. The EMU train departs from platform number 1, so we were waiting near the water house on platform 1. At this time, the Sabarmati train coming from Dahod side pulled in on the platform. Some people from the train came down to the platform. They had a saffron stripe around their head with something like ‘Jai Bajrang’ written on it. They were shouting ‘Jai Shri Ram’. These people appeared to have got down from the train to have tea and snacks. In the meantime, some of these people wearing saffron stripes came to the place where we were standing. They were beating a person with a beard on his face, using a stick. He was a Muslim, and they were shouting, “Beat…kill musalmans”, and therefore we were frightened. Thereupon, my mother, sister and I started to go towards the musafirkhana. At this time, one man from the same group came from behind and pressed my mouth with his hands and tried to drag me towards the coach of the train. When my mother saw this, she raised cries “Save her… save her.” Thereupon the person who had caught hold of me, let me go. We were very frightened and stood inside the office of the booking clerk. After some time we gave up the idea of going to Vadodara and came out of the office, took a rickshaw and went back to the house of my aunty in Signal Faliya [a Muslim neighbourhood adjacent to the Godhra railway station].” According to Sophia, the karsevaks also tried to abduct another burqa-clad woman on the platform. However, the police have failed to identify the woman or record her statement till date.

After this squabble with the karsevaks, the Muslims on the platform started pelting stones at the train. Pande, the army man aboard coach S-6, as well as many other passengers on the train, have corroborated this fact.

THE FIRST HALT: Chain is pulled; the Sabarmati stops just outside the station A few minutes later, the train left the platform. According to the train driver, Rajendrarao Raghunath Rao, he got a green signal at about 7:45am. “The train had started moving towards Vadodara,” says Rao in his statement, “when the chain was pulled at about 7:47am and the train stopped. My assistant driver and guard found that the chain had been pulled from coach numbers 83101, 5343, 51263 and 88238 and we informed the stationmaster about this through a walky-talky.”

Throughout this time, the stone pelting continued from the direction of the platform. This is corroborated by both Pande, the army man, and another ordinary passenger, Amarkumar Jamnaprasad Tiwari, 19, who was travelling with his father, mother, sister-in-law and nephew from Uttar Pradesh, their native place, to Ahmedabad.

According to Pande, “After running for about 30 to 40 metres, a chain was pulled and the train stopped. Thereupon more members of Bajrang Dal came running and boarded our coach [S-6]. At that time, there was normal stone pelting from the platform side.”

Tiwari too says the train had stopped moments after it left the platform. “I heard the sound of stone pelting on the coach,” he says, “and some stones had started coming into the coach through the windows.”

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Amidst this chaos, the railway staff managed to fix the chain pulling in the aforementioned four coaches and the train began to move again.

THE FATEFUL HALT: Chain is pulled again, the Sabarmati halts near Cabin A 8:00am. After moving a short distance, once again a chain was pulled and the train came to a halt near Cabin A. The time is recorded by Assistant Station Master (ASM) Harimohan Meena who was manning the cabin. The driver, Rao, says he saw a 900-1,000 strong mob near Cabin A, pelting stones at the train. The stone pelting had obviously intensified and begun to break the window panes of coaches. Both ASM Meena and survivors of S-6 testify to this. Amarkumar Tiwari says that all through the time the train started and stopped for the second time, there was constant stone throwing from the left side. “On account of this, window panes had broken in our coach and my brother’s wife, my mother and I were hit by these stones.” Pande, the army man, says much the same. “When the train stopped for the second time about a kilometre from the station, there was heavy stone throwing from the left side. As the doors and windows of the coach were shut, a few panes got broken. Some passengers sustained injuries from the stones and had started bleeding.”

GROUND ZERO: Mob fury intensifies The Muslim mob had chased the train down to Cabin A. The driver, Rao, saw the mob but was separated from it by eight to ten coaches. The police personnel had not yet reached the spot. So the two officials closest to Ground Zero were ASM Meena and his colleague, AK Sharma, both manning Cabin A. This is what Meena told the police in his statement on March 1, 2002 — a day after the Godhra incident. “At about 7:55am, the train had again started. Within five minutes, it came near Cabin A. At that moment, the driver of Sabarmati Express blew the chain-pulling whistle and the train stopped. About eight to ten coaches had already passed beyond Cabin A. I got down from the cabin to set the chain right and enquire about what had happened. On going near the train, I found a mob of about 200 to 500 people running towards the train from the back and surrounding area. They were pelting stones. I came running back to my cabin and from the cabin itself I instructed passengers sitting in the coaches to shut the windows and doors. A few passengers who came down were beaten up by the mob.”

What exactly transpired between ASM Meena and the mob?

Meena is silent on the issue in his statement to the police. TEHELKA’s undercover reporter decided to meet him posing as a research scholar. Meena — not aware that he was talking to a journalist or being recorded — said that when he came down and asked the mob why they were chasing the train, a few people from the mob replied that one of their people had been abducted by the karsevaks on the train. Meena also said that he heard a few in the mob suggesting that the coach be set on fire to drive people out of the coach so they could recover their person. But he saw no swords, any other sharp weapon or inflammable material being carried by the mob. On the contrary, according to him, the mob mainly consisted of women and children carrying sticks and pelting stones.

TINDERBOX: A jam-packed coach S-6 is a waiting death trap By all accounts, S-6 was bursting at its seams. The number of passengers in the coach was at least three times its normal capacity. According to eyewitnesses there were about 250 passengers. The doors and windows were completely shut. Further, to prevent the mob from forcing their way into the compartment, the passengers had blocked all the doors with their luggage.

As one of the survivors of S-6, army personnel Govindsingh Rajput says, “I and three or four other people opened a door on the right side of the coach with great effort because to prevent the people outside from opening the doors, passengers had blocked the doors on both sides of the coach with their luggage.”

Laltakumar Jadhav corroborates this. “Karsevaks, Bajrang Dal activists and other passengers of the coach had assembled their baggage near the doors of the coach and to see that nobody could enter the coach.”

Outside, having tried unsuccessfully to dissuade the mob from attacking the train, the frightened Meena ran back to Cabin A. His colleague Sharma, the only other person present in the cabin, never stepped out. In his police statement, Meena said: “I was frightened and came running back to Cabin A. I asked Akhil Kumar Sharma to close all the doors and windows of the cabin. Sharma had already informed the DSS (Deputy Station Superintendent)

Godhra and Vadodara control room on the railway phone that the Sabarmati Express was being pelted by stones to a great extent by a mob. After informing the RPF , the phone started ringing and I and Sharma started replying the same.”

Inside the train too, no one could quite make out what was happening outside.

As Pande, the army man, and another co-passenger Rajendrasingh Rajput have testified, the karsevaks and Bajrang Dal activists had got everybody in coach S-6 to shut the doors and windows, so neither Pande nor Rajput could see what was happening outside the coach.

This was the case with most of the coaches. Saburbhai Parmar, a karsevak who was traveling in a general compartment, says in his police statement, “As there was stone throwing we had closed the windows and doors and sat inside the coach… I was frightened and did not see any person.” Another karsevak in a general compartment, Sanjay Sukhadiya, says the same. “I had seen a mob of about 1,000 to 1,500 persons pelting stones at the train and coming nearer and nearer. We ramsevaks were all frightened and had not opened the windows and doors.”

Ghosts of Godhra The burning of coach S-6 triggered a massive pogrom against Muslims

SMOKE AND FIRE: Eyewitness accounts by S-6 passengers At about 8:30am, Meena first spotted smoke rising from S-6. Passengers aboard S-6 too first saw the smoke and then the fire. This is what Pande, the army man, said in his statement on 1 April, 2002: “Members of Bajrang Dal and other passengers were shouting and hiding the women and children below the last seat. After 10 to 15 minutes, all of a sudden smoke erupted from seat number 72 and within some time flames were seen. I and three or four other people who were sitting on the upper seat got down and opened the door on the right side of the coach with great effort because to prevent the people outside from opening the doors, passengers had blocked the doors on both sides of the coach with their luggage. Some other people and karsevaks also alighted from the coach.”

Rajendrasingh Rajput, also travelling in S-6 with his father, said, “A mob of about 100 to 150 people in the northern direction were throwing stones at the train. The people in this mob were armed with pipes, dhariyas and swords. As I came out through the window, they hit me on my leg, shoulder and hands with pipes and stones. My father had felt suffocated by the smoke in the coach. I had also sustained burn injuries on both my hands and ears. Thereafter, people from Godhra had taken me and my father to the Godhra civil hospital.”

After getting down from the train, Pande says he saw “boys of 15 to 16 years of age taking rounds around the train. They were armed with iron rods and knives. On seeing them, I ran for about 70 to 80 feet. Then some of them surrounded me. By that time, I had sustained some injuries on my right hand due to the stone throwing. The boys were shouting, “Maaro… maaro.” I told the boys I was an army man. They asked for proof. I pulled out my warrant from my pocket. One boy, after seeing my warrant, told the others I was an army man and nobody should beat me. The other boys then asked for my name. The said boy read out my name, upon which the other boys said I was a Hindu and one of them hit me with an iron rod on my head. My head started bleeding and I felt dizzy. Then, the said boy, after driving away the other boys, dropped me on the main road.”

EMERGING CONTRADICTIONS: Was the mob carrying petrol and kerosene? Among survivors of coach S-6, only the karsevaks claim so

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Neither Meena — the only official who witnessed the mob from close quarters — nor any of the survivors who were not karsevaks in S-6, like army man Pande and Rajendrasingh Rajput, saw any inflammable material like petrol, kerosene or diesel being carried by the mob. Nor did they see coach S-6 being set on fire. Satish Misra, a businessman in Vadodara who was travelling back with his family from Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh on S-6, and who lost his wife in the blaze, says, “Upon hearing that there was stone pelting on the coach, we had closed the windows and doors... As there were fumes of smoke on account of the fire I could not see any people pelting stones or who set the coach on fire.”

Four among the surviving karsevaks of coach S-6, — Amrutbhai Patel, Dineshbhai Patel, Rambhai Patel and Nitinbhai Patel, all residents of Mehsana, all of whom had gone to give ahuti at the Ramjap Yagna at Ayodhya — too have stated in their first statements, recorded on March 8, 2002, that they had not seen anybody carrying inflammable material or setting the coach on fire. They said that they fell unconscious because of the smoke inside the coach. The only people who claim to have seen the mob carrying inflammable material are some of the karsevaks in S-6 who survived and karsevaks in other coaches. Interestingly, all these karsevaks admit that they had shut the doors and windows of their coaches because of the heavy stone pelting, yet in the same breath they claim they saw the mob armed with all kinds of inflammable material.

'I wasn't at the station, I was sleeping at home. But the police put me among the witnesses' -MURLI MULCHANDANI

PANIC AND PREJUDICE: The karsevaks’ testimonies: how reliable are they? In a telling detail that throws their credibility into question, many of the surviving karsevaks from S-6 who claim to have seen the mob carrying inflammable material have given identical statements — word for word. For instance, four karsevaks (also from Mehsana) — Jayantibhai Patel, Babubhai Patel, Dwarkabhai Patel and Hirabhai Patel — who were all part of the same group and were travelling back together with VHP’s Mehsana district unit president, have given statements that mirror each other right down to the smallest comma. But even these four didn’t claim they had seen the mob setting the coach on fire, they only claimed to have seen the mob carrying inflammable material.

What exactly is the inflammable material the karsevaks claim to have seen? The answer is bewildering in its range: a) acid bulbs, b) petrol bulbs, c) plastic containers carrying petrol and kerosene, d) mashaal or kakde (burning rags of cloth tied to a stick).

In their statements, the karsevaks have also mentioned every conceivable way in which the fire could have been started in coach S-6. According to them, the mob was a) throwing acid bulbs and petrol bulbs inside the coach, b) sprinkling petrol and kerosene on the coach from outside, c) pouring in kerosene and petrol inside the coach through broken windows, d) throwing burning rags in through broken windows.

Karsevaks as far from S-6 as those traveling in coaches S-2 and S-4, and the general compartments, have claimed they saw all of the above. How they could have known the nature of what was being thrown from such a distance is not something they are able to explain.

Can the testimonies of these karsevaks then be taken at face value? The answer is no. Many of the testimonies of karsevaks who survived from coach S-6 are biased and factually incorrect for the following reasons:

'Noel saheb gave me fifty thousand, showed me a photograph and said I had to identify him' -RANJITSINGH PATEL

For one, it is the karsevaks from coach S-6 who, along with karsevaks from other coaches, were involved in the scuffle on the platform — a fact corroborated by Pande, the army man, and even substantiated by the police. Yet, none of the karsevaks mention the scuffle or the aborted abduction at the platform in their original statements. They cut straight to the stone pelting by a Muslim mob and overlook what triggered it. What’s worse is that as things progressed, many karsevaks manufactured statements convenient to the prosecution as and when it was required. Whenever the police would come up with a new theory to explain the cause of fire, they would approach karsevaks who would readily corroborate the new theory by making completely new statements — many of them a complete reversal of their earlier statements.

AN IMPARTIAL EYE: Was there any neutral survivor, not a karsevak but an ordinary passenger, from coach S-6 who saw any possible source of fire? The answer is yes. A family of four — Lallan Prasad Chaurasiya, his wife Jankiben, their 13- year-old son Gyan Prakash, and a toddler Rushabh — were aboard coach S-6. The Chaurasiyas were travelling back from their native town of Allahabad and had two reserved seats in coach S-6 — seats number 8 and 72. However, karsevaks had occupied seat number 72, so the entire family travelled on seat number 8. Later they all shifted to seat number 6. This is what 13-year-old Gyan Prakash said in his statement recorded on March 4, 2002: “Because of the stone pelting, people in the coach had closed the windows and doors of the coach. However, the stone pelting continued on our coach and as a result the windowpanes were broken. Before the iron window could be closed, some burning substance had come inside and immediately there was black smoke inside the coach. Seeing this, I immediately told my mother to get out of the train along with my sister’s son, Rushabh. At that time, we were sitting on the upper berth and because of the smoke, nothing could be seen. Leaving our luggage behind, my parents and I opened a door of the compartment and got down. When I reached my father, he told me that as he was alighting with Rushabh someone came and snatched him. My mother and I searched for Rushabh but we could not find him.” Gyan Prakash’s parents, both Lallan Prasad and Jankiben, corroborated that some burning substance had fallen in through a window and after that black smoke had filled the coach. None of the Chaurasiyas however said that they saw the mob carrying petrol or kerosene or containers filled with inflammable liquid.

'The police gave all the names. None of the eyewitnesses wrote their statements. The police did' -KAKUL PATHAK

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Laltakumar Jadhav said that though he did not see the mob starting the fire, after he had escaped from the burning coach he did see “some people from the mob trying to further set coach number S-6 on fire by putting grass, quilts, etc below the coach.” But Jadhav too did not see any inflammable material or plastic containers being carried by the mob.

THE MOOT QUESTION: A pre-planned conspiracy or a spontaneous riot? A detailed study of statements and eye-witness accounts, like the one above, clearly suggests that the burning of coach S-6 was an instance of spontaneous vandalism that snowballed out of control. Provoked by the attempted abduction and the karsevaks’ fight with Muslim hawkers at the station, the hawkers began to pelt stones at the train, and then, as the mob gathered strength and force, someone in the mob eventually threw burning rags into the coach that started the fire.

But instead of investigating the facts, chief minister Narendra Modi visited Godhra and the same evening announced that the burning of coach S-6 was an act of premeditated terrorism carried out by one community against another. The crime of a few had morphed into the sin of an entire community. There was absolutely no evidence to support his claim. But since the head of the state government had made the claim, the police started a massive exercise of manufacturing evidence.

Over the next three years, the police and the ruling BJP government used all the resources at their disposal — power, money, men — to prove that the Godhra incident was a conspiracy hatched by the local Muslim political and religious leadership, a claim which Modi and his party have used to justify the mass killings of Muslims post-Godhra.

MANUFACTURING TRUTH: Nine members of the BJP’s Godhra unit turn up and claim that Muslim politicians of Godhra were present in the mob Apart from police personnel and the fire brigade, the first independent witnesses to come forward and identify people from the mob were nine BJP men, among them a few important functionaries of the party’s Godhra unit. Between them, these nine men claimed to have identified 41 Muslims from Godhra town as part of the mob. Among the 41 they named were the president of the Godhra Municipal Council, Mohammad Hussain Kalota Shaikh; four Muslim corporators — Bilal Haji, Farooq Mohammad Bhana, Salim Shaikh and Abdul Rahman Dhantiya; and two Muslim advocates — Rol Amin Hussain Hathila and Habib Karim Shaikh.

The first question that strikes one is, what were these nine BJP men doing at the station? None of them was travelling on the Sabarmati Express nor had any plans to board any train from Godhra. So what were they doing there so early in the morning? They have an explanation — common to all of them. “On 27.2.2002, as the activists and karsevaks who had gone to Ayodhya were to come back on the Sabarmati Express, I and other activists were waiting at 6:30am at Godhra railway station to welcome them and serve them tea and snacks.” All nine name eight VHP leaders who they claim were travelling on Sabarmati Express, and whom they were there to greet with refreshments. The statements of all nine were recorded on February 27, 2002, the same day as the incident.

The Kindle The bodies of victims were paraded in emotive processions. Photo: AP

What exactly did these nine BJP men witness? They claim they witnessed everything — the assembling of the mob, the sharp-edged weapons and inflammable material it was carrying, and the actual setting of the fire itself. In nine identical statements they say, “At about 7:45am the Sabarmati Express arrived on platform number 1 at Godhra railway station… After welcoming activists, friends and other karsevaks, we had served them tea and snacks. When the train started, we had bid farewell with slogans of Jai Shri Ram. After this, we were still standing at the platform talking with local friends from Godhra, when the train stopped because of chain pulling. After sometime, the train started again. When it reached near the ‘A’ cabin, again there were whistles of chain pulling. When we looked towards that direction, we heard cries from Signal Falia and saw a mob of about 900 to 1,000 people, including women, men and boys, rushing towards the train. We all ran towards the train, and when we reached near the said cabin, the people from Signal Falia armed with swords, dhariyas, sticks, and iron rods had rushed there and some others had started heavy stone throwing at the train. These people were shouting, ‘Saale Hinduoo ko maar daalo, mandir banane jaate hai…kaat dalo’ (Kill these damn Hindus. They want to build a temple — cut them down!) Five to six people who had plastic containers of liquid in their hands had sprinkled the liquid from the said containers upon one compartment and set it ablaze. We had all stayed under the cover of the cabin.”

The only variation in the nine statements of the BJP men is the names of culprits. Each of them has identified a different set of people from the mob. Who are these nine BJP members?

_ Kakulkumar Pathak: Son of Nitinkumar Hariprasad Pathak, Kakul is a resident of Dwarkanagar, Bamroli Road, Godhra. He joined the BJP in 1984, and besides being in the construction business, he has always been an important member of the BJP’s Godhra unit. He was twice appointed General Secretary of the BJP’s Yuva Morcha in Godhra. Following this, he was appointed Joint Secretary of Godhra Nagar BJP. At present, he is a Taluka Panchayat delegate and the convenor of the BJP’s media cell in Godhra.

_ Murlidhar Rochiram Mulchandani: Mulchandani, 37, is a resident of Jilelal Faliya and a prominent businessman in Godhra town. He is also a senior BJP functionary. Two years before the Godhra incident, Mulchandani had lost the election for the seat of corporator. At present, he is the vice-president of the Godhra Municipal Council.

_ Janakbhai Kantilal Dave: Dave, 35, is a resident of village Samli in Godhra. He is a civil contractor and also a member of the BJP’s Godhra unit.

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_ Rajeshbhai Vithalbhai Darji: Darji, 43, is a resident of Shrimali Sheri, near Juhapura vegetable market, Godhra. He is a businessman affiliated with the BJP. About a year before the incident, Darji was ousted as the Godhra Municipal Council president by Kalota and Muslim corporators. At present, Darji is the Panchmahal district president of the BJP.

_ Dilipbhai Ujamsibhai Dasadiya: A businessman, Dasadiya, 39, lives at Prabha road, Godhra. At present he is president of the BJP’s Godhra town unit.

_ Deepakbhai Nagindas Soni: A jeweller, Soni, 49, is a resident of Soniwad, Godhra. At the time of the Godhra incident, Soni was a sitting BJP corporator.

_ Hasmukhlal Tejardas Adwani: A businessman, Adwani, 49, lives in Zulelal Faliya, and is a member of the BJP.

_ Chandrashekhar Nachuram Sonaiya: Sonaiya, 43, who is in the agriculture business, is a resident of Paramhans society, Bamroli road, Godhra. He is also a member of the BJP.

_ Manoj Hiralal Adwani:Adwani, 29, lives on Prabha road, Godhra and is a BJP member.

SIMMERING RIVALRIES: The political context in Godhra The town of Godhra is divided into 12 wards, each ward comprising three corporator seats. In December 1999, elections for the Godhra Municipal Council were held. The BJP won 11 seats, independent Muslim candidates won 16 seats, the Congress won five seats, and four seats were bagged by independent candidates, who were all Hindus but sympathetic to the BJP.

Murli Mulchandani, the current vice-president of the Godhra Municipal Council, had also contested but lost. To form the house in the council, a party needs 19 seats. The BJP formed the house with the support of five Congress corporators and three independent Muslim corporators. Raju Darji, a BJP corporator (who claims to be one of the witnesses of the fire) was elected the president. Deepak Soni, another BJP corporator (also one of the nine BJP witnesses) was appointed president of the education board formed under the council.

One year after the elections, 24 corporators — 16 Muslim, five Congress, and three independent Hindu corporators — joined ranks against the BJP and moved a no-confidence motion. The BJP lost the house. These 24 corporators now elected Kalota as the president of the Godhra Municipal Council. During a no-confidence motion debate, a Muslim corporator, Bilal Haji had beaten up the BJP corporator, Raju Darji, and a criminal complaint was lodged against him. In 2002, when the Sabarmati fire killed 59 Hindus, Raju Darji, Deepak Soni and Murli Mulchandani, along with six other BJP members, claim they saw Kalota, Bilal Haji and three other Muslim corporators “attacking the train”.

THE DUPED AND THE DAMNED: The 41 accused by the nine BJP members

The accused identified by Kakulkumar Pathak and their current status: Pathak identified six people from the mob. He says all six “were armed with lethal weapons” and were “attacking the compartment of the train with the slogan Allah o Akbar. Thus they had created terror.” (All nine BJP members use exactly the same phrase in their statements.) The six accused are: _ Rol Amin Hussain Hathila: A practicing advocate. In jail for the last five years.

_ Siddique Ibrahim Hathila: Rol Amin’s cousin and a businessman. Absconding since the Godhra incident.

_ Mohammad Kalu: A 65-year-old businessman. Is out on bail since July 2002.

_ Ismail Yusuf Chunga: A businessman. Pathak later changed the name to Ismail Yusuf Chungi. The police have failed to identify anyone with this name and Chunga has been absconding since the incident.

_ Ibrahim Adam Dhandiya: A businessman. Is absconding.

_Usman Abdulgani Coffeewala: A truck driver. Behind bars for the last five years.

Justice Denied The horrific tragedy at Godhra demands the truth, not political games. Photo: Daxesh

DESIGN HEAD: Noel Parmar, a new investigating officer, takes over On May 27, 2002 — five days after the first chargesheet — a new investigating officer is appointed. Noel Parmar, ACP control room of Vadodara City, takes over from KC Bawa, DySP of Western Railways, who had been investigating the case till then.

In an undercover conversation with Noel Parmar, who is currently posted as DySP, railway police, in Vadodara, TEHELKA found that Parmar was far from a neutral investigator. A few snatches of his conversation are enough to expose Parmar’s deep-seated hatred for Muslims. Here are some of the statements he made: “During Partition, many Muslims of Godhra migrated to Pakistan… In fact, there is an area called Godhra Colony in Karachi… Every family in Godhra has a relative in Karachi… They are fundamentalists… This area, Signal Falia, was completely Hindu but gradually Muslims took over… In 1989 also there were riots… Eight Hindus were burnt alive… They all eat cow’s meat since it comes cheap… No family has less than ten children… they are all complete fundamentalists, associated with the Tablighi Jamaat.”

THE HINDU HAND: The entry of Ajay Baria, a ‘know-all’ witness The first chargesheet was a mesh of conflicting and contradictory claims. To bring some method to the madness, the police produce a new witness — a tea vendor, not a Muslim but a Hindu — on July 9, 2002, a month and a half after the first chargesheet, and five months after the actual incident. Ajay Baria, the new witness was a tea vendor at Godhra railway station, and was unemployed at the time. He claimed that on the morning of February 27, 2002, just after the Sabarmati Express had arrived, nine hawkers — all Muslims — whom he knew since they all sold wares at Godhra station, forcibly took him to the house of Razzak Kurkur. Once there, the nine hawkers went inside Kurkur’s house and brought out carboys filled with “kerosene” (he doesn’t specify the number of carboys and he specifically uses the word kerosene). He said that one of the hawkers then forced him to load one carboy onto a rickshaw while the remaining carboys were loaded by the other hawkers. (If there were already nine Muslim hawkers to load carboys onto the rickshaw, why did they need Baria to load just one carboy? Also, why Muslims would take a Hindu tea vendor along to execute a communal crime defies logic.) Baria said the rickshaw was parrot-coloured but he could not see its registration number. Once the carboys were loaded, the hawkers forced him to go along. The frightened Baria jumped into the rickshaw, which the hawkers then drove up to Cabin A, where the train was standing. According to him, a few hawkers first tried to set coach S-2 on fire. When they failed, they cut the vestibule (connecting passage) between coaches S-6 and S-7. Having done that, six hawkers went inside S-6 and poured “kerosene” along the floor of the coach. Three others sprinkled kerosene through the windows into the coach. And one vendor then threw a burning cloth into coach S-6. Thus, the coach was set on fire.

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Upping the ante FVHP and Bajrang Dal activists mobilised hate across the state Photo: Reuters

THE CHAIN-PULLERS: Two more Muslim tea vendors are tortured and tutored till they agree to make a statement With Ajay Baria’s statement, several pieces fell into place for the police. They had found a witness to claim that “kerosene” was brought to the spot, to explain how the accused gained entry, and how the “kerosene” was poured into the coach along the floor before the coach was set on fire.

But one hitch remained. The police still had to prove that it was the conspirators who had stopped the train near Cabin A. Surely they couldn’t have relied on Hindu karsevaks to stop the train exactly where they wanted so that Godhra Muslims could burn it.

To get around this, the police came up with two more new witnesses — both Muslims — who now confessed it was they who had pulled the chain that brought the train to a halt near Cabin A. The statements of these witnesses — Illias Mullah Hussain and Anwar Sattar Kalandar, part-time hawkers and part time truck drivers — were recorded on July 9 and July 26, 2002. Both said they were present at the station when the karsevaks beat up the tea vendors. After this fight, they said they were told by Salim Paanwala (a paan-seller at the station who has been absconding since the incident) and Razzak Kurkur that karsevaks had abducted a Muslim girl from the platform and they had to stop the train. So both Illias Hussain and Anwar Kalandar, along with another vendor called Hussain Suleman Gijju (who, according to the police, is still absconding), scaled different coaches of the train and turned the discs and stopped the train. Both also named all the accused whom Ajay Baria had named in his statement, corroborating that they were armed with sticks, pipes and iron rods. Both said they had seen the parrot-coloured rickshaw parked near the coach. However, they went a step ahead of Baria’s statement and gave the registration number and name of the rickshaw owner. Both also claimed to have seen the nine vendors, whom Ajay Baria had alleged set coach S-6 on fire, near the coach carrying carboys and later running towards Signal Falia. At this point, they said, they also heard the nine hawkers saying, “The train is properly set on fire from inside.”

Both Illias Hussain and Anwar Kalandar have since retracted their statements. In an interview with TEHELKA, the two narrated how they were illegally confined and tortured by Noel Parmar and his team. “Every night the cops would come and put a log of wood on my legs and then walk over it,” said Illias. “I was given electric shocks on my genitals,” said Kalandar. They were made to memorise a statement handed to them by the police. “The cops would come and ask us how much we had memorised from the hand written notes we were given,” say Illias and Kalandar. After two weeks of confinement, both men were produced in court and their statements were recorded. Parmar then told both to leave Godhra and not be in touch with any local Muslims. After about a year and a half, Illias and Kalandar returned to Godhra and retracted their statements by filing affidavits before the Supreme Court.

TELL TALE: The police file the first supplementary chargesheet. There is a crucial slip Armed with the statements of Ajay Baria, Illias Hussain and Anwar Kalandar, the police filed the first supplementary chargesheet on September 20, 2002. For the first time, they acknowledged the aborted abduction

by karsevaks. In fact, the now alleged was one of the main conspirators — had used the abduction attempt as a ruse to gather a mob and make Illias, Kalandar and Suleman stop the train. Ajay Baria’s statement had given the police the rest of their ammunition. But the police made one serious mistake. Ajay Baria had said that nine Muslim hawkers had loaded carboys onto a rickshaw in his presence. He had also claimed that one of the hawkers had made him carry one carboy up to the rickshaw, which is when he claimed he smelt “kerosene”. However, Baria had never mentioned the number of carboys, their size, or the quantity of “kerosene” each carboy may have had. Yet in their supplementary chargesheet, the police noted, without any evidence, that the vendors had loaded eight carboys, carrying 20 litres of petrol each. (Baria, of course, had used the word “kerosene”, not “petrol”.)

In effect, the police said the accused had carried 160 litres of petrol to the train. How had the police quantified the carboys and the liquid in it when neither Baria nor Illias nor Kalandar had given any numbers? Did the police already have a theory in place? Were they manufacturing fake evidence to prove that theory? Where had 160 litres of petrol — a huge quantity by any measure — come from? Where had the conspiracy been hatched? The first supplementary chargesheet did not have any answers for this.

THE MISSING LINK: A second supplementary chargesheet is filed Between the first and second supplementary chargesheet filed on December 19, 2002, only one development took place: the arrest of Razzak Kurkur. Apart from this, the second supplementary chargesheet was a replica of the first, and the loopholes remained unanswered. The police still could not explain who had planned the conspiracy, where and how it was planned, and what exactly the plan was.

Ground Zero The horrific incident of Godhra has shadowed Gujarat for five years Photo: Cherian Thomas

THE PLUG IN THE HOLE: Jabir Bin Yamin Bahera is arrested. He names Maulvi Umarji as the mastermind To plug some of this, the police arrest Jabir Bin Yamin Bahera, a hawker at Godhra railway station who had been absconding, on January 22, 2003. Thirteen days after arresting him, the police produced him before the court and recorded his confession. This is what Bahera claimed. On the eve of February 26, 2002, that is the eve of the Godhra incident, he was sitting at a tea stall when three hawkers, Salim Paanwala among them, came up to him and said that Razzak Kurkur wanted to see him. When he reached Kurkur’s house, Kurkur instructed him to buy petrol. Along with a few other Muslim hawkers, Bahera then went to Kalabhai’s petrol pump and bought 140 litres of petrol in seven carboys, each carboy measuring 20 litres. This was stored in Kurkur’s house, located behind his shop-cumguesthouse at Signal Falia. After that, at about 11:30pm, Bahera says he was standing at Kurkur’s shop when two people — Bilal Haji and Farukh Bhana, both corporators — came there. The corporators told him that they had just met “Maulvi Sahab” who had conveyed the message that the Sabarmati Express was coming and they were to burn coach S-6. After that Salim Paanwala went to the railway station to enquire if the train was running late. When he came back with the information that the train was running late by four hours, Bahera and the other hawkers went home and gathered again near Aman Guesthouse (Kurkur’s shop) at 6am on the morning of February 27, 2002.

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According to Bahera’s confession, after watching TV for some time, at around 7:15am, Bahera came out of the shop and saw a hawker called Mahboob Latika running from the side of the station shouting, “Beating…beating.” Bahera went near the Parcel Office and saw five other Muslim hawkers pelting stones at the train. After that Ajay Baria, along with the nine Muslim hawkers, went to Kurkur’s house and loaded the petrol-filled carboys (he does not mention the number) in a tempo. Kurkur then told them to take the tempo near Cabin A. Kurkur and Salim Paanwala followed on an M-80 scooter, with Paanwala driving and Kurkur riding pillion, carrying a carboy in his hands. On reaching Cabin A, they all went near coach S-2 first. There, Bahera says, he saw a few hawkers armed with sticks, pipes and dhariyas trying to break the doors and windows of the train. From coach S- 2, they proceeded to S-6. There, the hawkers had cut the vestibule between S-6 and S-7 with a scissor. Bahera and a few other vendors entered S-6 with five carboys and poured petrol along the floor of the coach. A few other hawkers sprinkled petrol from outside through the broken windows. When the passengers started running helter-skelter, Bahera and a few others looted a gold ring from a passenger who had jumped out of the burning coach. Bahera and his accomplices then ambushed a military personnel and hit him with a rod. Later, one of them escorted the military personnel to the road. Through all this, the mob had continued to pelt stones at the train. A stray stone came and hit Bahera on his forehead. He rushed to a clinic in Godhra for first aid. The next day, he says, he came to know that after he had left the spot, a hawker called Hasan Lalu (a tea vendor who is in jail) threw a burning mashaal inside the coach, which then caught fire. According to Bahera, he visited Maulvi Hussain Umarji during the next few days. On his first visit, Umarji told him he was paying Rs 1,500 to all those who had been arrested, he did not pay Bahera any money though. On his second visit, Umarji told him to escape. Having done so, Bahera says he sold the ring he had robbed a few months later to a jeweler in Anand for Rs 2,000.

Jabir Binyamin Bahera has since retracted his statement.

STITCHED UP: The conspiracy and the conspirators Armed with Jabir Bahera’s confession, the police now claimed to know the main conspirators (Maulvi Umarji, Bilal Haji, Farukh Bhana, Razzak Kurkur and Salim Paanwala); where the conspirators had gathered on the eve of the incident (at Razzak Kurkur’s shop); where the petrol was bought from (Kalabhai’s petrol pump); and where the petrol was stored (at Razzak Kurkur’s house behind his shop). But most importantly, the police had now linked the conspiracy to the most significant Muslim religious figure in Godhra — Maulvi Umarji.

Umarji is one of the most respected maulvis of Godhra. During the communal riots in 1965, ‘69, ‘80 and ‘89, Umarji had been a member of the peace committees formed by the district administration. After the Sabarmati incident, he ran a relief camp for riot victims for several months in Godhra. He had also taken delegations to meet dignitaries like Congress president Sonia Gandhi, former Prime Minister Deve Gowda, and the then Defence Minister George Fernandes during their visits to Godhra after the incident. On April 4, 2002, when Prime Minister AB Vajpayee visited Godhra, accompanied by Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Maulvi Umarji gave him a memorandum. However, he snubbed Modi by refusing to hand him a copy of the memorandum.

With Kalota, the municipal council president, vice president, a couple of Muslim corporators and advocates already in jail, the Muslim political leadership in Godhra was already in the dock. With Umarji being named one of the prime conspirators, the entire Muslim community of Godhra was indicted. The police were now in a position to claim that the Sabarmati incident was not a spontaneous act of rioting but a cold-blooded, premeditated act of communal violence, with respectable Muslims from Godhra at the centre of the conspiracy.

Action-reaction? Narendra Modi claimed the massacre of Muslims was a spontaneous response to the gory deaths in Godhra Photo: Reuters

FRESH FUEL: Fake witnesses produced to prove the source of petrol Prabhatsingh Patel and Ranjitsingh Patel were two salesmen employed at Kalabhai’s petrol pump at the time of the Godhra incident. On April 10, 2002, just a month after the incident, the two had told the police that they were at work since 6:00pm on February 26, 2002 up till 9:00am on February 27, 2002 and had not sold any loose petrol to anybody during that period.

The police now approached the two again on February 23, 2003. In a disturbing turnaround, the two now claimed that they had sold 140 litres of petrol to six Muslims, including Razzak Kurkur and Salim Paanwala. They said Siraj Lala, Salim Paanwala, Jabir Binyamin Bahera, Salim Zarda and Shaukat Babu had come in a parrotcoloured tempo while Razzak Kurkur had come ahead on an M-80 scooter.

THE SEE-SAW TRAIL: More confessions, more chargesheets, more retractions Armed with Jabir Binyamin Bahera’s confession and the statements of the two petrol pump salesmen, the police filed a third supplementary chargesheet on April 16, 2003.

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Later, they also obtained confessions from six other accused — Shaukat Bhano, Salim Zarda, Irfan Patalia, Mehboob Latika, Shaukat Bibina and Shakir Babu (all Muslim hawkers). These confessions were recorded between 2003 and 2006 but never included in the chargesheets. (The police have filed 17 chargesheets till date — one main and 16 supplementary.) All six hawkers have since retracted their confessions.

The police also took a statement from Sikandar Mohammad Siddik, a Muslim boy who was living with his family along the tracks at the time of the Godhra incident. Siddik has since migrated to Surat.

Siddik’s statement mirrored the names of the accused and the sequence of events as stated in Jabir Binyamin Bahera’s confession. He also claimed that Maulvi Umarji had told him he was paying Rs 1,500 to all those accused who had set the train on fire. However, Siddik also named one more religious leader not mentioned by anyone. According to him, Maulvi Yakub Punjabi had been shouting provocative slogans from the rooftop of a masjid when the train halted near Cabin A. Surprisingly, the police have not made Yakub Punjabi an accused.

On enquiry, TEHELKA found that Punjabi was not in the country at the time of Godhra incident, a fact attested by his passport and visa. After Siddik’s statement, the police had apparently picked up Yakub Punjabi, but realising the blunder they released him immediately.

THE CRUCIAL QS: The gaping loopholes in the police’s case The scheduled time of arrival of the Sabarmati Express taking karsevaks to Ayodhya was 12 midnight; and the scheduled time for the one returning from Ayodhya was 2.55am. A similar train carrying karsevaks to Ayodhya had reached Godhra on the night of February 25, just a day before the fateful incident. Why didn’t the conspirators attack this train — 12 at night being a more ideal time for carrying out a crime than 8 in the morning?

If the conspirators were really bent on attacking the Sabarmati Express only on February 27 what was the original plan, considering the train was scheduled to arrive at 2:55am in the morning?

Since the police claim that the plan to burn coach S-6 coach was already in place on the evening of February 26, and its execution was left to just a handful of hawkers, what would the so-called conspirators have done if the karsevaks had not beaten up Muslim hawkers on the platform and tried to abduct a Muslim girl? How would the hawkers have gathered a mob? Did the execution of the conspiracy hinge (illogically) on the karsevaks behaving provocatively?

According to the police, Jabir Binyamin Bahera was one of the key people to buy and store the petrol, take it to Cabin A, and then enter coach S-6 and pour petrol along the floor. Why then was he only roped in at the last minute for executing the conspiracy?

The police claim that Ajay Baria was forcibly taken along by the Muslim hawkers, first to collect petrol from Razzak Kurkur’s house, then to Cabin A where they finally set the coach on fire. Since the Muslim hawkers were already large in number — Baria has named nine — why did they need Baria? Why would Muslim conspirators take a Hindu tea vendor, against his wish, to execute their…

Why was Maulvi Umarji only interested in burning coach S-6, as the police claim, when the entire train was full of karsevaks?

The dead Burnt bodies recovered from the S-6 coach Photo: Daxesh

Since the police claim that half a dozen vendors had entered the coach after cutting the vestibule, how is it that no coach S-6 survivor — karsevak or ordinary passenger — saw them?

Can a vestibule, whose average thickness is 6 inches, be cut so easily by a plain scissor or knife?

The Sabarmati Express was originally scheduled to arrive at Godhra railway station at 2.55 am. Did Pathak, Mulchandani and the other BJP members plan to greet the VHP leaders and karsevaks with tea and biscuits at the unlikely hour in the morning, or did they make their plan only after they came to know that the train was running late? Further, Pathak, Mulchandani and the others claim to have been present at the railway station from 6:30am till the train was set on fire. Yet none of them mention the altercation between the karsevaks and Muslim vendors or the aborted abduction of the Muslim girl. How is it that such major incidents escaped their eyes?

More perplexingly, Pathak, Mulchandani and the others must have been very close to the mob to be able to identify people from it as they have done. If the mob was armed as they have claimed, why did the mob spare Pathak and the rest, when the same mob was not forgiving of the army man or a few others whom they had attacked and injured after they had escaped from coach S-6?

Between them, Pathak, Mulchandani and the seven other BJP men have identified as many as 41 Muslims. Yet not one of these names overlap. All these nine so-called witnesses were standing together at the station, and all nine claim to have identified culprits while standing at the same spot — behind cabin A — yet all saw completely different people. Was this a meticulous division of labour or sheer coincidence?

In their first supplementary chargesheet, the police had claimed that the culprits cut the vestibule to gain entry into the coach. But Pathak, Mulchandani and the others don’t say this at all. On the contrary, they claim they saw the culprits sprinkling some inflammable liquid on the coach from outside before setting it on fire — a claim that falls flat in the light of the forensic evidence. Since the Gujarat government’s own forensic laboratory has stated that the fire started from inside and there is no evidence that any inflammable liquid was sprinkled on the coach from outside, are Pathak, Mulchandani and the others simply lying? Are their statements manufactured to settle personal scores and further political agendas?

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The two petrol pump salesmen, Prabhatsingh Patel and Ranjitsingh Patel, had first denied selling any loose petrol either on the day of the incident or the previous evening. What transpired to make them do an about-turn more than a year after the incident and claim that they had actually sold 140 litres of petrol to the accused?

Apart from all the other contradictions and omissions, the police’s case has been severely weakened by the retractions of seven of the accused, including Jabir Binyamin Bahera. Add to this the fact that Illias Hussain and Anwar Kalandar — the two who had confessed to stopping the train at Cabin A — have also retracted their statements and say they were tortured into confessing, and the police are left with very little leg to stand on. The only witnesses the police have are Ajay Baria — the inexplicable Hindu link in the plot; Sikandar Siddik — who incorrectly named Yakub Punjabi; the two petrol pump men, Prabhatsingh Patel and Ranjitsingh Patel (both of whom live under constant police protection); and eight BJP members (Dileep Dasadiya has since retracted).

THE TRUTH EXPOSED: Tehelka’s painstaking investigation over six months demolishes four of the police’s key witnesses Over a period of six months, TEHELKA’s undercover reporter infiltrated VHP, RSS and BJP circles deep inside Gujarat. Most of the time, the reporter posed as a RSS man writing a book on Hindutva. At other times, he posed as a Delhi University research scholar sympathetic to the RSS, writing a thesis on the resurgence of Hindutva in Gujarat. After meeting several Sangh Parivar and BJP leaders in Ahmedabad, a BJP leader in-charge of Panchmahal district (Godhra falls in Panchmahal) introduced the reporter to Kakul Pathak, one of the nine BJP Godhra witnesses. After meeting Pathak twice and tutoring himself on the internal politics of the BJP in Godhra, the reporter made a cold call on Murli Mulchandani, (also one of the nine BJPwitnesses) posing as an RSS man travelling across Gujarat to assess the mood of the electorate.

The Burning train The inside view of the burnt S-6 coach

The truth about Kakul Pathak

The TEHELKA reporter met Kakul Pathak twice, first on May 29, 2007 and the second time on July 17, 2007. In the first meeting Pathak discussed the state of the BJP in Godhra and his own contribution to the party. He also named a few BJP MLAs and ministers who he said had backed the Hindu rioters post -Godhra.

In the second meeting, Pathak laid bare the horrible truth about how he and other eight BJP members had colluded with the police to indict innocent Muslims. Contrary to their statements, Pathak said neither he nor the other eight BJP men were on the spot when the coach was set on fire. The truth is by the time Pathak reached the spot the mob had dispersed. The truth is that Pathak did not even know that the police had attributed a statement to his name and made him a witness, but when he did come to know about his statement, he backed the police to the hilt. Joining ranks with the police, Pathak identified two people in the police parade who had been named as culprits in his statement. He knew the two were not involved in the crime, but he still damned them as he thought it was his duty towards the “Hindu Samaj”. “Yeh hindutva ka kaam hai… jo party bolegi woh karne ka hai,” Pathak told TEHELKA. (This is the work of Hindutva… We must do whatever the party commands). Pathak has since stood his ground, except on one count. A man called Ismail Chunga had been named by the police as a culprit in his statement. Pathak later claimed it was Ismail Chungi, not Chunga. He did this to save Chunga, who happened to be his business partner. “How can I fix my own partner?” Pathak says.

In all, six people were named as culprits in Pathak’s statement. Three are still absconding, one was bailed out within a few months, and two have been in judicial custody for the last three years. The two in custody are advocate Rol Amin Hussain Hathila and Usman Abdulgani Coffeewala, an alleged pickpocket.

The truth about Murli Mulchandani In another shocking disclosure, Murli Mulchandani, currently vice-president of the Godhra Municipal Council, told the TEHELKA reporter that he was actually sleeping at home at the time of the incident. Much like Pathak though, he readily cooperated with the police and did not blink an eye when his name was included among the eyewitnesses.

Mulchandani, in fact, was livid with Dilip Dasadiya for retracting his statement, and upset with Pathak and Raju Darji for making minor changes in the names of two of the accused. He was miffed that despite their indiscipline, the BJP had given party responsibilities to Dasadiya and Darji. He said such things sometimes made him lose his faith in the party, but he would stick to his word since he cannot betray Hinduism.

The truth about Ranjitsingh Patel and Prabhatsingh Patel, the petrol pump salesmen Ranjitsingh Patel and Prabhatsingh Patel — the petrol pump employees who, in a complete volteface, claimed they sold 140 litres of petrol to the accused — now live under round-theclock police vigil. They quit their petrol pump jobs after their police statements and are living in their village, Saapa Sigwa, about six miles away from Godhra town. When the TEHELKA reporter tried to meet Prabhatsingh, his family denied him access.

However, TEHELKA was fortunate enough to get to the other witness, Ranjitsingh Patel. When the reporter posing as a Bajrang Dal man approached Ranjitsingh on July 16, 2007, the latter was tilling a field and the two policemen who shadow him 24/7 had gone for a tea break. After some initial apprehension, Ranjitsingh told the reporter that he was paid Rs 50,000 by Noel Parmar. The importance of this cannot be over-emphasised. One of the prime witnesses, on whom the entire police case rests, confessed that the chief investigating officer had bribed him. He said a similar amount was also paid to his colleague, Prabhatsingh. He also said that Parmar had told him that when the time came to identify the accused in the court, he would show the accused to Ranjitsingh in advance and on the sly so that he could remember their faces and pin them down in court.

The truth about Ajay Baria TEHELKA tried to reach Ajay Baria, the Hindu tea vendor who has been made a police witness, but failed to track him down. Kakul Pathak told TEHELKA that Baria lives under the close supervision of Noel Parmar. Pathak says the last he had heard of him, Baria was selling tea near Parmar’s office in Vadodara. TEHELKA then decided to meet his mother who is a daily wage labourer and lives in Godhra. Baria’s mother said her son had become a police witness out of fear. She said Ajay was at home and fast asleep at the time of the incident at Godhra station. She also said that the police do not allow Baria to visit her or come to Godhra too often. Every time Baria came home from Vadodara to visit her, two policemen, she said, accompany him.

Nov 03, 2007

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Godhra: The Diabolic Lie

Open Case: Gaping Loopholes

• FIVE MONTHS AFTER the incident, the police produced Ajay Baria, a Hindu tea vendor, as a witness. Baria said nine Muslim hawkers dragged him to Razzak Kurkur’s house, where they first forced him to load petrol onto a rickshaw, then forced him to go to Cabin A to stand as a witness while they burnt coach S-6. Why Muslim hawkers would force a reluctant Hindu to collude in their crime no one can tell. Baria is shadowed 24/7 by a police escort. His mother told TEHELKA he had become a witness out of fear. • IN AN ATTEMPT to nail religious and political Muslim leaders as the key conspirators, the police produced two witnesses: Jabir Bin Bahera and Sikandar Siddik. Bahera claimed to have bought 140 litres of petrol with fellow hawkers on the evening of February 26, 2002, and set coach S-6 on fire the next day. He named Maulvi Umarji as the mastermind. He has since retracted his statement. Siddik, who had corroborated Bahera word for word, also named another religious head, Yakub Punjabi for inciting the mob. The police detained Punjabi, but it turned out he wasn’t even in the country on that day. • THREE KARSEVAKS — Dinesh bhai Patel, Rambhai Patel and Nitinbhai Patel — had first claimed they’d fainted due to the smoke in coach S-6 and seen nothing. But onn June 8, 2002, in an astounding volteface, they suddenly changed their statement and claimed they’d seen some Muslim hawkers throwing some liquid on the floor of the coach, as well as throwing a burning mashaal into the coach through a window. This conveniently matched the assumption of the forensic report a few days later. Nov 03, 2007

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Godhra: The Diabolic Lie

Shut Case: Proof Of Subversion

• THE POLICE’S CASE in the Godhra tragedy reeks of malafide intention.TEHELKA’s investigation exposes an intricate web of liesentwined with truth and several damning instances of corruption. • THE POLICE HAVE relied heavily on statements by nine BJP men to build their case. TEHELKA caught two of these men — Kakul Pathak and Murli Mulchanfani — on camera, admitting that the police had filed statements on their behalf and they were not even at Godhra station when the incident took place. They colluded with the state to further the cause of Hindutva. • THE POLICE’S CASE also relies heavily on the testimonies of two petrol pump salesmen — Ranjitsingh Patel and Prabhatsingh Patel —who claim they sold 140 litres of petrol to Muslim hawkers the evening before the incident. They had earlier said they had not sold any loose petrol either on the day of the incident or the evening before. TEHELKA caught Ranjitsingh on sting camera admitting that the chief investigating officer, Noel Parmar had paid him and Prabhatsingh Rs 50,000 to change their statement and falsely identify some Muslims as conspirators. • TWO OTHER MEN that the police’scase have relied heavily on areIllias Hussain and Anwar Kalandar, two Muslim hawkers who haveclaimed that they pulled the chain that stopped the Sabarmati fatally near Cabin A. Both Hussain and Kalandar retracted their statements after a year. TEHELKA tracked them down to get the truth. They said they’d been confined by Parmar for two weeks and tortured into confessing. They were also forced to memorise statements handed to them by the police. Nov 03, 2007

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Godhra: The Diabolic Lie

Forensic File

THE GUJARAT FORENSIC Laboratory report was filed on May 17, 2002. It concluded several things: • THERE WERE ENOUGH high impact marks on the side of the train to uphold eyewitness and survivors’ accounts of intense stone pelting. • CONTRARY TO THE theories floating around till then, coach S-6 could not have been burnt by inflammable liquid thrown through the window or the door. • THERE WAS NO sign of any corrosive fluid, like acid, in the fire (contrary to what several karsevaks had claimed). • SEVERAL SAMPLES WERE collected from both outside and inside the coach on February 27 and 28, 2002, respectively. DB Talati, Assistant Director, FSL, reported traces of petro-hydrocarbons in 25 of these samples, while 20 samples had no such trace. • SIGNIFICANTLY, IN HIS report dated April 26, 2002, Talati stated that he could not say whether the petrol traces in the 25 samples matched the petrol sample from Kalabhai’s petrol pump (from where the conspirators allegedly bought their petrol). Further, a huge sample —370 kgs — taken from S-6 on May 1, 2002, yielded no trace of petrol. • HAVING DEMOLISHED EXISTING theories on the cause of fire, the forensic team curiously deci ded to conduct an experiment through which they claimed to prove that the fire had been set off by a huge quantity of inflammable liquid poured along the floor of coach S-6. This conclusion set the police and party machinery off in a new direction. Nov 03, 2007

Editor’s Cut Lest We Forget Our Shame

HARINDER BAWEJA

FOR ALL of us at TEHELKA, Gujarat 2002: The Truth is the most important investigation of our time. Some may argue against this but in so many ways, it is more urgent than Operation West End. Exposing corruption in the procurement of arms was critical. That the gravy chain ran long and deep — through top political echelons — was a revelation in the national interest. But unlike West End, which dealt with greed and avarice, Gujarat is about our fundamentals. It is about ourselves. It is important because the hopelessly one-sided perpetration of violence on hapless Muslims is one of the biggest ruptures of recent times. A corrosive rupture. A nation’s shame. We all knew that the State had conspired in the events of 2002. That the rioters — or is assassins the right word? — had political protection. But we had no faces. The perpetrators were part of large amorphous mobs. We didn’t know the details. We had no idea of the extent to which the masters and their men plotted and executed the genocide.

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This investigation lays bare the anatomy of the rioters. The groundbreaking exposé — entirely the work of one gutsy, truth-hungry journalist, armed with nothing but two buttonsized cameras — takes the lid off all that was known but never established. The chilling details come first hand, from the accused themselves. The accused damn themselves — they tell us how everything, every last thing was planned and thought through. How bombs were manufactured in factories owned by members of the Sangh Parivar. How arms were smuggled in from other states. How, for the men in uniform, the colour saffron meant more than khaki. How Narendra Modi, custodian of the law, volunteered to let his state resemble a killing field. The revelations are important because they are entirely voluntary. They were not made under any inducement. Wads of notes were not brandished to elicit them. Extraordinary stories need extraordinary methods, we often say. This extraordinary investigation, in fact, is an account of what the killers willingly narrated to the reporter who approached them as a student researching Hindu resurgence. What they said was checked and cross-checked — through field visits, through other accused. Some were cautious, but most were willing to talk with a little bit of goading. They gave out horrifying details without batting an eyelid. Their testimonies are not just

an insight into their mindsets — they are accounts that should have been in official police records — in FIRs and chargesheets. Accounts that fit different sections of the IPC. Accounts that lend themselves to the criminal procedure code. Babu Bajrangi, the Bajrang Dal zealot, confesses to how he slashed open a pregnant woman’s womb and wrenched the foetus out. Suresh Richard, an accused in the Naroda Patiya massacre, confesses to rape. He tells you he is not lying, because he is admitting to it in the presence of his wife. He tells also of how he and his fellows killed Muslims when they heard that some of them were hiding in a gutter, hoping to escape the marauding mobs. Haresh Bhatt, a sitting MLA, similarly needs to be questioned, to be proceeded against because he reveals how rocket launchers were assembled in a factory owned by him. In over 40 hours of tape, none, save one of the protagonists, expressed any remorse. Frighteningly, they all said they would like to kill many more. THIS INVESTIGATION is important for so many reasons, the two most important being that the Police and the Judiciary — the two pillars that ordinary Indians bank on — stand naked. Two public prosecutors are on camera acknowledging allegiance to their faith over their profession — paying homage to a warped sense of religion over nobility of duty. Details of how they are actually working to help the guilty escape the law. How they have even turned brokers and have already helped an accused — who had used a sword to cut a man to pieces — by offering money to the victim’s family. This story is about the subversion that continues at different levels, political and judicial. The Gujarat government’s own counsel casts aspersions on the two-member Nanavati-Shah Commission. It took us six months to unearth the startling truth behind Gujarat 2002. Five years since, it is clear why the government in the state is not interested in delivering justice to its own victims. The investigation begs attention. We need police reforms urgently. Thousands of victims — eyewitnesses to the genocide — are looking for justice to courts outside Gujarat. A Delhi High Court bench recently took suo motu notice of reports that pointed a finger at YK Sabharwal, the former chief justice of India. This investigation deserves all the attention the judiciary can pay it. It is a nation’s shame. Our collective shame.

Nov 03, 2007

Photo: Reuters

Reporter’s Diary

Voyager Between Two Worlds Having been undercover on the shadow lines between sanity and mayhem, ASHISH KHETAN retraces a quest for truth

I HAD JUST finished breakfast and was settling down to the newspaper when my cellphone rang in the next room. Before I could reach it, the caller had disconnected and left an SMS. Call me, it read. The sender was Tarun Tejpal, my editor. I had returned from Gujarat only a couple of days ago, having completed a sting operation on Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s involvement in a spate of fake encounter killings. The story had exposed, fairly conclusively, that the Gujarat cops — more hitmen than cops — had made quite a practice of killing Muslims in these “encounters”. I wondered why Tarun wanted to talk to me so early in the morning (it was almost 11, but that, for most journalists, is an early hour). Maybe it was about the story’s fallout. Maybe those exposed had sent a legal notice. I dialled Tarun with questions crowding my mind. “Ashish, have you heard about the vandalism in Baroda”, asked Tarun. Of course I’d heard. For years, Gujarat had been in the news for all the wrong reasons — this was one more instance of a few lunatics, doped out on “Hindutava”, going on a rampage. This time their target was the Fine Arts Faculty of Vadodara’s Maharaja Sayajirao University (MSU). “It’s appalling,” said Tarun. The hooligans had already been on more than one TV channel, articulating their twisted ideology, announcing loudly to the world how the “obscene” portrayal of Hindu deities had hurt their religious sentiments. But there seemed a larger motive behind the targeting of a few Fine Arts students and professors, Tarun argued. Find out who these people are, what they do and above all what their views in private are as opposed to their public postures. As I put the phone down, I felt a sense of melancholy enveloping me. Three back-toback investigative reports (we had also exposed Sanjay Dutt for his involvement in the 1993 serial bombing and Maharashtra DGP PS Pasricha for his illegally-gotten wealth) had made me a bit battle-weary. I had repeatedly failed to honour my promise to take Chris, my wife, on vacation. It had been a while since I’d spent time with my nine-month-old daughter. But there I was, within a few hours of that call, packing my bags to leave for Gujarat, a place that evoked foreboding every time I went there.

Illustration: Sudeep Chaudhury

My first visit to Vadodara had been in the winter of 2004, after Zaheera Sheikh — the prime witness in the Best Bakery massacre — had made yet another retraction in court, playing yet again into the hands of her tormentors. As the autorickshaw took me from Vadodara airport to Alkapuri, the city centre where all the hotels are, I passed places I’d visited then — the station, the roundabouts, the restaurants. I remembered how incredible that visit was. But the familiarity of the place, half-blackened by shadow, half illuminated by streetlights, only made me the

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more sombre. Now, as in 2004, I had set out for a story, armed with nothing more than a couple of spycams and some daredevilry. Now, as then, the biggest question was where to start? And, now as then, I knew nobody, not a soul in this alien land. A magic, perhaps divine intervention had seen me through my 2004 visit — within a fortnight of my arrival, I’d been sitting right before Zaheera’s chief tormentor, BJP MLA Madhu Srivastava, the local ganglord, in his own front garden, he on a swing, I on a shabby plastic chair, with a spycam on my lap. Then, as now, my brief was simple. Nothing was adding up in the Zaheera episode, Tarun had said. I was to join together the scattered pieces and complete the picture. And when completed, it added up to a nice round figure: Rs 18 lakh. The sum Srivastava had paid Zaheera to buy her silence. But that was then. Miracles don’t happen everyday, I told myself. Still I had to give it a shot. After a frantic search for a reasonably priced hotel room, I checked into Hotel Aditi International, Room No 506. Except for its name, there was nothing grand about the hotel. The peeling paint and the murky light of the bare room, did little to cheer me up. Maybe a few cigarettes would bring some clarity. Then, an idea floated up, above the plume of self-doubt and nicotine. Since I didn’t know where to go, why not take a few small steps on every lane that opened up? And then see which road would lead to my goal? I hastily made a few calls to rights activists protesting the events at MSU; I also got in touch with a contact in Mumbai who had friends in Gujarat. I told him to put me in touch with people in the BJP’s Vadodara unit without telling them I was a journalist. “Tell them I’m Piyush Aggarwal, a research scholar from Delhi University, writing a thesis on Hindutva in Gujarat.” He said he’d give me a few references in the morning. The next day, I called him at 10am. He did not respond. I called several times, to no avail. I then decided to line up meetings with a few activists. Later in the day, one of them put me in touch with Prof Iftikhar, who was among the few at MSU to come out openly against the saffron hooligans. Iftikhar spoke of how the BJP had crowded the MSU senate and syndicate — its two governing bodies — with men affiliated to either the RSS or the VHP. One’s appointment, promotion, even authority in the university all hinged on which side of the ideological divide — Right against Centrist and Left — one was. My Mumbai contact finally answered my call. He gave an excuse for not having been available earlier. I was more interested in getting the names and numbers of local BJP men. He obliged with a few. “I hope you’ve told them I’m a research scholar, not a journalist,” I said. My contact assured me this was exactly what he’d done. I called up Mr A. He was a bit probing, asking questions about the nature and purpose of my research. He didn’t sound like I’d convinced him, but he put me in touch with Mr B., who in turn put me in touch with one Dhimant Bhatt who, I was told, was personal assistant to the Vadodara BJP MP and would introduce me to the right people. From the news, I already had the name of Neeraj Jain, the BJP office bearer who led the ruckus at MSU. I called up Bhatt and told him I wanted to meet Neerajbhai Jain (bhai is an essential suffix to most names in Gujarat). At the appointed time, I walked into the high-ceilinged reception room of the Vadodara BJP party office. Half an hour later, Jain walked in, a short man in his late 30s with a newly-acquired paunch. He was fixated with Muslims, whom he evidently considered the root of all evil. But his hatred for Muslims did not seem to flow naturally — it seemed more a matter of political expediency, of routine. From ordinary Bajrang Dal worker to Vadodara BJP general secretary, Jain had travelled a long enough path to know that Hate Muslims was his ticket to political success. Vandalising paintings in the name of Hinduism had only enhanced his reputation. JAIN’S MUSLIM phobia did not make a story for me. A day passed before I decided to meet Dhimant Bhatt who, besides being a BJP man, was the MSU chief accountant. At 11:30am on May 19, I walked into Bhatt’s second floor office in an administrative block on the MSU campus. Struggling between perusing files and answering a near-incessant string of phone calls, he was most hospitable, offering me water, then tea, then showing me the way to the toilet (where I switched on the two spy cams I was wearing). Fifteen minutes into the conversation, after Bhatt was convinced I was as staunch a Hindu as he was (love for Hinduism being displayed on both sides by heaping abuse on Muslims), he uttered a few lines which would not only redefine my story but also, I believe, the way the nation sees the Gujarat riots. “I was involved in burning down the houses of Professor Bandukwala and the bureaucrat, Peerzada… Disguised as a peacekeeper, I supplied weapons during the riots… We should put the Sangh’s lathis aside and take up AK-56s instead.” My head began to reel. Bhatt might be an accountant by day, but his true vocation lay in tormenting religious minorities. Destroying paintings was, for him, a small skirmish. The real battle had been fought and won five years ago, in 2002. And five years ago was where the real story lay, I told Harinder Baweja, known also as Shammy, my

immediate boss. Both Tarun and Shammy agreed, and told me to go after the story. Resources and time were no constraint, said Tarun. “Let your story be the last word on the Gujarat riots,” Shammy said. And thus began a sixmonth journey. A journey that would take me back in time, looking to rewrite the history of the year 2002. A journey in which my only companions would be fear and hope — hope of finding the truth and fear of being consumed by it; hope of hunting down the murderers and fear of being hunted myself. Hope, which is so rare for so many in Gujarat. Fear, a permanent shadow, almost an extension of your being, always lurking at your shoulder. I set out to meet as many VHP, BJP and RSS men as I could. I asked Bhatt for a few introductions to members of the ‘Parivar’ — all the Hindu organisations are known collectively as ‘Parivar’ or one single family — in Ahmedabad. He readily agreed. And the journey continued, In Ahmedabad, one man would put me in touch with another, another with a third. A pyramid of contacts rose and kept rising. A few days later, I asked a BJP man if he could send me to Godhra — a small town that had leapt out of obscurity to become one of the most important words in the Indian political lexicon, a tragic conundrum yet to be solved. Next day, I was in Godhra, sitting before Kakul Pathak, a BJP man and an eyewitness to the Sabarmati Express fire. He referred me to Haresh Bhatt, former Bajrang Dal president, now a BJP MLA from Godhra. Bhatt was an extempore speaker, a man who preferred being heard to having a discussion. For a journalist, such men, particularly if they have things to reveal, are a blessing. After 45 minutes of tiring discourse on Hindutva, I edged a question in. “We” (meaning the Hindus; Bhatt was convinced I was an adherent of the militant religiosity he had preached all his life) “never keep arms. How then could we manage to kill so many Muslims in 2002?” “If I tell, do you promise it won’t be in your book?” (I had said I was writing a book to propagate the VHP’s brand of Hindutva.) “I made bombs, rocket launchers, swords, and distributed them across Gujarat. Firearms and swords were smuggled in from other states as well. It’s the first time I’m telling anyone this outside the party circle,” he said. For a moment, I was numbed with fear. That was June 1, 2007. Over the next few months, I would meet many who had been charged with rioting and killing and many who had worked behind the scenes. Along the way, I negotiated dead ends, spells of despair, moments of sheer terror. I was travelling once with Bhatt in his car from Ahmedabad to Godhra. Mid-way, he received a phone call. After disconnecting it, he turned to me and said he had just been informed that a journalist from Delhi was carrying out a sting operation on the Sabarmati Express incident and that he had been told to be careful. Oh, really, I said, with a straight face. A FEW MINUTES later, Bhatt’s driver steered the car off the main road and turned into a narrow, deserted, kutcha road. As the car stopped outside a desolate, one-storey house, another car pulled up and two men got out. Bhatt and these men went into the house and told me to wait. I had two spy-cams on me and all it needed to blow my cover was a body frisk. I prepared myself for the worst. Twenty minutes later, Bhatt returned and we set out for Godhra again. The two men went off in a different direction. Bhatt told me he’d had been doing business with them. On another occasion, Bharat Bhatt, a Sabarkantha public prosecutor, became suspicious about my identity. Having told me how he’d threatened and bought off Muslim witnesses, Bhatt called me as soon as I’d taken his leave and said he had serious doubts I was an RSS man. Within a few minutes, another VHP man I’d stung a few days earlier called and asked for my location. However, I survived these close shaves and kept sailing. Whenever the tension became too much, I’d make a quick trip to Mumbai, to my wife and daughter, my home, my cocoon. For six months, I remained a voyager between two worlds — my world, where I was Ashish Khetan, a journalist with a Catholic wife, a daughter with a French name and no fixed religion, and a host of Muslim and Christian friends. And then there was the other world, where I was Piyush Aggarwal, a member of the “Parivar”, a Hindu zealot, a religious fanatic, with only murderers and rapists for friends.

Nov 03, 2007