Loopholes in Guj govt's conspiracy theory, NGO tells Godhra panel

Ahmedabad, Dec 5 (UNI) In a rebuttal of the Gujarat government's conspiracy theory on the Godhra incident, an NGO representing the riot victims today made submissions before the Nanavati-Shah Commission to prove that the carnage incident was more a fall-out of a fight between Kar Sevaks and local vendors and not a pre-planned conspiracy.

Presenting records of depositions and the evidences that have been placed before the Commission, Dr Mukul Sinha, counsel of an NGO the Jan Sangharsh Manch, said there were enough proofs to state the train had been stopped because of chain pulling from inside and not by any outside forces.

He said the chain pulling had been done from five and not four coaches of the train, as was initially believed. ''This information has been gathered from the deposition of the Assistant Station Master and train guard. While each has mentioned numbers of four coaches from which the chain was pulled, one coach number was not common on their list. That means four coaches and not five should be on record.'' Debunking the Government's contention that the chain pulling had been done from outside, he said the coaches of the Sabarmati Express were fitted with vacuum brakes and these brakes could be operated by the Alarm chain pulling system from inside the coaches, he stressed.

Quoting a Railway circular, he said, A modification had been made in the ACP way back in 1995 to prevent unauthorised travellers from operating the system from outside the coach. This modification had been done by bifurcating the alarm signal rod connecting the alarm disc on one end and the alarm valve (clappet valve) on the other end. This bifurcation mechanism would ensure that the rotation of the alarm signal will not operate from outside.

Quashing the Government's theory that chain was pulled twice by miscreants as part of the conspiracy, he said the fact that the train came to a halt second time at Signal Falia was more because the ACP had not been set right in the second coach.

Refuting the Government's and the VHP's contention that the ''conspirators'' of the carnage had pre-planned the attack on kar sevaks, Dr Sinha said the depositions made by various police officers, including the then DGP K A Chakravarthy, Godhra DSP Raju Bhargav and then State Intelligence Bureau chief R B Sreekumar, point to the fact that no one (other than the VHP) had any prior knowledge about the movement of kar sevaks in the train.

''There is no documentary and oral evidence on record of the commission that any person in Gujarat knew about the specific travel date of the kar sevaks,'' he said.

''Hence, the fundamental link in the conspiracy theory breaks down'', he pointed out.

Terming the conspiracy theory of the Government as ''concocted'', Dr Sinha said the situation in Godhra prior to the incident had been normal. The RPF constable on duty, Mohan Jadav too had said there was no suspicious movement on the platform before the train's arrival.

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