M A I N   N E W S

Probe into attack on Laloo

Report in 3 months

Ahmedabad, April 24
In an apparent pre-emptive move to stonewall any action by the Centre, the BJP government in Gujarat has ordered a judicial probe into the attack on Railway Minister Laloo Prasad in the state.

Justice N.B. Patel, a retired Judge of the Gujarat High Court, will conduct the inquiry into the attack on Prasad in Vadodara on Thursday when he had gone to a hospital to see the injured passengers of the Sabarmati Express train mishap, officials at the Chief Minister’s Office told PTI.

Reacting to the Gujarat government’s decision, Prasad alleged it was a tacit admission of Modi’s “guilt” and attempt by him to “hush up his misdeeds”.

The one-man commission will look into all aspects as Prasad alleged there was a murderous assault on him orchestrated by Chief Minister Narendra Modi and give its report in three months.

Prasad alleged Bajrang Dal and VHP activists had attacked his car while he was leaving the hospital.

The commission will also probe if there was any security lapse during the entire episode, the officials said.

The Railway Police at Vadodara had already registered cases against some BJP workers in connection with the incident.

The Narendra Modi government and Gujarat Governor Nawal Kishore Sharma have sent a report on the incident to the Union Home Ministry.

While the details of the reports were not immediately available, a preliminary study suggests that adequate security was provided to the Railway Minister.

The report holds an angry mob responsible for the attack, and says it was not a conspiracy or a plot against him.

Laloo’s opponents have blamed him of politicising the attack to divert the attention from the Sabarmati train accident. — PTI, UNI

BJP unfolds ‘pack of lies’
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 24
Three days after Railway Minister and RJD supremo Laloo Prasad Yadav charged the Gujarat government of orchestrating a “murderous attack” on him, the BJP today demanded his dismissal from the Union Cabinet for “misleading” the country by making false accusations.

Screening video clippings of Mr Yadav leaving the Vadodara Hospital, BJP spokesperson Arun Jaitley told newspersons here that the footage showed the rear windscreen of the minister’s car was in tact contrary to the claim made by the Railway Minister.

“The least the Prime Minister can do is to dismiss the Railway Minister… there is clinching evidence that not a single piece of broken glass was found in the hospital”, he said.

“It is for everyone to see in the CD that all the five video cameras which recorded the incident show not only the rear screen of Mr Yadav’s car as intact but not even a single stone can be seen on the hospital premises”, Mr Jaitley said.

He said the party would raise the issue in Parliament in a “forceful manner” tomorrow. “This is a serious issue for the party. The Parliament should take note of it”, he said.

Mr Jaitley said that the video clippings clearly show that “it is clear that in the hospital, there was no such incident (pelting of stones)….no channel has show window glass being broken at the hospital”. Moreover, the workers at the hospital have confirmed that no glass pieces were found strewn in the hospital premises.

He said the “possibility of Mr Yadav himself having broken the rear screen could not be ruled out”. He said that the Railway Minister’s claim was “big lie and a big plot” and he has “not only misled the country, but also misguided the Prime Minister persuading him to seek an explanation from the Gujarat state government and convening a meeting of the Cabinet Committee of Political Affairs (CCPA)”.

Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah, who was also present at the press conference today, said that the CD titled “Satyamev Jayate” would be presented before the Inquiry Commission constituted by the Gujarat Government to probe the incident. The Commission would give its report within 90 days.