Naroda gaam: Former Godhra mamlatdar deposes in court

Former Godhra mamlatdar MN Nalvaiya on Wednesday deposed before the principal city sessions judge PB Desai in connection with the Naroda gaam riots case.

Nalvaiya, who is currently posted as additional district magistrate of Panchmahals, stated he reached Godhra railway station at 7.45 am after getting a message about fire on Sabaramati Express on February 27, 2002. 

He said he was on duty till 10.30 pm and he supervised the extrication of charred bodies from S-6 coach. As per their records, 54 bodies were found from the coach and later handed over to VHP leader Jaydeep Patel.

However, submitting a Xerox copy of the records, he told the court he did not know where the original records were.

Defence lawyer of Jaydeep Patel, accused in the Naroda gaam riots case, Chetan K Shah, requested the court to place the Xerox copy on record citing the SC judgement in the Bipin Shantilal v/s Gujarat state case. However, the court turned down his plea.

During cross-examination by special public prosecutor SC Shah, Nalvaiya admitted the administration had not taken Patel’s signature at the time of handing over the bodies to him. To a specific query, he admitted that Patel’s name was noted in the records on the directions of a senior official.  

About the allegation that barrels of an inflammable liquid stored at the panchayat office were used to set houses on fire, the defence lawyer said the store in-charge had conducted an inventory and he had submitted that none of the panchayat’s wares were missing.

Representative of collector slammed

At the last hearing, the court had sought details of the number of Hindu households torched in Naroda gaam. When a representative of the collector’s office arrived with insufficient information on Wednesday, the court asked him to submit the same by 11 am on Thursday failing which a non-bailable warrant would be issued against him.

‘Submit copies of fir in such cases’

As the names of the accused in some communal riots cases lodged between March 1 and April 15, 2002 were the same, the court asked the defence lawyer to produce copies of the FIRs in these cases by the next hearing, scheduled for July 3.

Naroda Witness accused in murder case

The record officer produced documents related to the Ghanshyam murder case, which had taken place in Naroda on February 28, 2002. An accused in this murder case is a witness in the Naroda gaam case too.

HC denies bail to Sadhvi Giri

High court on Wednesday denied bail to Sadhvi Jayshree Giri in the Rs5 crore cheating case. It observed that since the accused had fled while being under police vigil a fortnight ago, she won’t be granted bail.