Key accused in Godhra carnage 'held'

FILE -- The train set on fire by a mob in Godhra, India is seen Wednesday Feb. 27, 2002. The day after the train fire murders that sparked a wave of Hindu-Muslim violence in wetsern India, authorities blamed it on a railroad platform fracas among angry Muslim tea vendors and slogan-chanting Hindus. Nearly a week later, conspiracy theories abound about who is to blame for the fire. (AP Photo/str)

One of the key accused in the Godhra train carnage case, Ismail Yusuf Chunga, absconding since the incident on February 27, 2002, is said to have been arrested by the police early on Thursday morning.

The police, however, neither confirmed nor denied the arrest. Official sources said Ismail was picked up by the police from his Godhra residence and “taken away” to some unnamed place for an identification parade.

According to the police, Ismail was among those who actually set fire to the ill-fated S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express.

The sources indicated that his arrest would not be confirmed until his identity was established.

His arrest comes close on the heels of the special fast court delivering its judgment in the train carnage case on Tuesday, sentencing 11 persons to death and 20 to life imprisonment while acquitting 63 others.