The SIT submitted before the court that the conspiracy was hatched to kill Karsevaks.
The revenge motive was at the heart of the controversy in the Sabarmati Express train carnage case. The Supreme Court appointed SIT, after conducting re-investigation, endorsed the state police theory of conspiracy behind the attack.
The SIT submitted before the court that the conspiracy was hatched to kill Karsevaks in revenge for attending a ceremony at Ayodhya as part of the drive to build the Ram temple at
the disputed Babri Masjid site in Ayodhya.
On the other hand, the lawyers of the accused were suspicious of local political and communal forces. They also opposed the prosecution's stand that there was no pre-planned conspiracy and the incident happened after a Karsevak started a scuffle with a vendor at the Godhra railway station when the train arrived early morning on February 27, 2002.
The issue turned into a political battle as the state government imposed Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) on the accused of the case by branding the incident as a pre-planned terrorist conspiracy. However, the terrorist conspiracy motive had to be dropped as the POTA Review Committee (PRC) repealed the POTA from the case and its subsequent endorsement by the Gujarat high court.
"The conspiracy was hatched to kill Karsevaks in vengeance as they went to attend a ceremony at Ayodhra and it was the main motive behind the conspiracy," said JM Panchal, Special Public Prosecutor of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed by the Supreme Court.
Reacting on a petition filed by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the Supreme Court had appointed SIT for Godhra and other cases. The SIT had endorsed the conspiracy theory of the earlier investigating officer that the attack was not spontaneous but was part of the conspiracy.
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