R.R. Patel, judge of the special court hearing the Godhra train carnage, visited the spot on Sunday and inspected the S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express in which 59 people, mostly Vishwa Hindu Parishad volunteers, died in a fire on February 27, 2002.
The coach is still parked at the Godhra station yard.
Mr. Patel also inspected the Aman guesthouse nearby, where the police claimed the conspirators had drawn up the plan to set the train afire when it arrived at Godhra.
The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party traded charges over the sudden appearance of some hoardings and wall-posters instigating communal passions in cities and towns in Gujarat after the CBI opened an investigation into the case of a ‘fake encounter' in which Sohrabuddin Sheikh was killed.
Governor seeks report
Governor Kamla Beniwal took a serious view of the issue and sought a report from the government on the posters and hoardings that stood in the name of Jan Adhikar Samiti, an unregistered and non-existent organisation.
Suresh Patel, president of the Vadodara unit of the Congress, said the inquiries he made about the organisation made little headway. Both he and Union Minister of State for Tribal Welfare Tushar Chaudhary, who was visiting Vadodara on Sunday, blamed it on the BJP.
Bharat Dangar, BJP leader in Vadodara, however, denied his party's hand. He alleged that the Congress might have done it to defame the BJP. Mr. Dangar said he did not see the BJP's lotus symbol in any of the hoardings as alleged by the Congress, and even if it appeared on some, it was not difficult for the Congress to draw it to discredit the BJP.
The BJP was on the defensive after the Governor sought a report, though some senior party leaders, including national vice-president Purshottam Rupala, State president R.C. Faldu and State general secretary Vijay Rupani, issued statements accusing the Congress of “sympathising” with “terrorists like Sohrabuddin” and “misusing” the CBI to demoralise the Gujarat police.
