Among the acquitted, 40 were named in the first charge sheet, and of these, 28 were apprehended from the scene of the crime near Godhra railway station. They all have been released.
The order in the Sabarmati Express train carnage case gives one the impression that the line of investigation conducted by the railway police right after the incident could be faulty. For, 63 of the 94 accused who faced trial were let off. The order was passed by the special judge, PR Patel, on Tuesday. Among the 63 acquitted, 40 were named in the first chargesheet, and of these, 28 were apprehended from the scene of the crime near Godhra railway station. They all have been released.
Maulana Hussain Umarji, who was named as a key conspirator in the incident, also came out clean in the absence of evidence against him. There was only one statement, of accused Jabir Binyamin Behra, who first named Umarji but later retracted it.
Likewise, Mohammad Hussain Kalota, then president of Godhra Municipality, was named as a key conspirator but was acquitted on Tuesday. According to investigation, local fire brigade personnel had identified him for his alleged role in blocking the road when fire tenders were being rushed to the spot.
The court ruling is significant especially because the final investigation was conducted by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by former CBI director RK Raghavan and appointed by the Supreme Court. The probe by the SIT endorsed earlier investigation done by the local police and retained the list of the accused prepared by the state police.
The primary investigation of the case was conducted by KC Bawa, deputy superintendent of police (DySP) of Western Railway. Bawa’s team had apprehended the accused from the spot and filed chargesheet against them in May 2002.
Scrutiny of many documents related to the case reveals that the police had charged many accused for having remained present in the mob with lethal weapons. Even those who were accused of pouring inflammable material inside the coach (according to the prosecution) have been acquitted. According to the prosecution, many accused had been apprehended from the spot with lethal weapons like dhariya, chhara & iron rods. Some were charged with pelting stones at the train.
Special public prosecutor of the case, JM Panchal, said: “We had put up evidence from our side but it is up to the court to evaluate the evidence, coupled with testimonies of the witnesses.” However, defence lawyer IM Munshi says otherwise.
“The court ruling shows that the police had arrested the people from the spot with wrong information. The 40 accused named in the first chargesheet, which includes the 28 caught from the spot, were acquitted by the court. The police had not got any proof or eyewitnesses even against Maulana Hussain Umarji,” he said.
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