New Delhi, March 3
Reiterating its interim findings to the extreme annoyance of the BJP, the Justice U.C. Banerjee committee today said that the February 2002 fire in the S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express was “accidental and not deliberate”.
The committee appointed by the Railway Ministry in September 2004 to probe the Godhra train fire in which 59 passengers, mostly Kar Sevaks returning from Ayodhya, were charred to death, today said that the fire in the coach was “accidental and not deliberate”.
The BJP and the saffron outfits have maintained all along that the fire was not an accident but a conspiracy to eliminate Kar Sevaks.
Talking to mediapersons after submitting the report to the Railway Board Chairman, Joginder P.Batra here today, Justice Banerjee said that the final report also contains “the same finding that I had stated in my interim report that the fire in the Sabarmati Express in S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express was accidental and not deliberate”. Sources in Rail Bhavan said that Railways Minister Lalu Yadav was likely to table the report in Parliament in the coming week.
Lalu Yadav chose to be cautious when asked to comment on the report. He said he would like to study the report thoroughly. “I have seen Justice Banerjee on television saying that the fire in S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express was accidental and nobody was behind it. We have to see what else is there.’’
Justice Banerjee said that the final report was consistent with the interim report. “It is consistent with the interim report and I have no reason to change it,’’ he said.
In his interim report, Justice Banerjee had ruled out the possibility of any inflammable liquid thrown into the coach. At the same time, he had also ruled out the role of miscreants or electrical fire as the cause of fire.
Replying to questions on cooperation by the Modi government in the probe, Justice Banerjee said that the he initially faced difficulty in getting some policemen for questioning but they cooperated later.
The Congress has demanded the resignation of Narendra Modi. Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi told mediapersons here that this this was yet another occasion that required Modi’s resignation. They said that Modi need to introspect and step down on his own. Disagreeing with the suggestion on the imposition of President’s Rule in Gujarat, Singhvi said, “We don’t want to make a martyr out of Modi.’’
The Congress spokesperson said that what was of concern was that the issue was used to fan communal passions and point needle of suspicion at innocent people for petty political gains. Reacting to comments by certain political quarters that the final report of the committee have been doctored, Singhvi said, “This is unfortunate.’’
