Nanavati report loophole, blaze theory under cloud

The Nanavati Commission’s findings on Godhra said that 140 litres of petrol were poured into the S6 compartment of Sabarmati Express to set it on fire at the Godhra railway station.

However, official injury reports of 70 survivors of the coach S6 fire show that most burn injuries were above the waist.

So could the injuries have happened above the waist if 140 litres of petrol were poured on the floor of the coach?

Income Tax officer Hariprasad Joshi, who was on berth 43, told the Nanavati Commission that he crawled to safety on the floor of S6. Could he have done this if the floor was on fire?

The then Deputy Superintendent of Police, Godhra, Raju Bhargav also told the Commission that he did not see any flames on the floor of the coach.

"It is not just the DSP giving his deposition but also corroborated by medical evidence. Every single injury report says the same thing that there is a deep inhalation of smoke and the affect is on the upper part of the lungs and the burn injuries are head, shoulder or hand. Not a single injury below the waist," lawyer Mukul Sinha pointed out.

A petty criminal Jabir Binyamin Behera allegedly confessed to the police that Maulana Umarji along with others had conspired to burn coach S6. But Jabir’s mother says he was tortured by the police.

"He was tortured by the police and forced to admit about the conspiracy. The police also threatened to kill him. He still has injury marks on his face," Jabir’s mother Haneefa Benjamin Behera said.

While Umarji’s family are hoping that they will get justice from the Supreme Court.

"He has retracted his statements before POTA court and also filed an affidavit about the police torture. We have also produced the same in the Supreme Court," Umarji’s family said.

The police have claimed that Jabir named a petrol pump owned as the source from where 140 litres of petrol was bought by two men – Ranjit Singh Patel and Prabhat Singh Patel.

But in an investigation by newsmagazine Tehelka, alleged witness Ranjit Singh Patel told a different story.

"The police paid me Rs 50,000," Ranjeet Singh Patel said.

On enquiring further CNN-IBN got information on the location of Gujarat police’s most guarded secret Prabhat Singh Patel.

But even before CNN-IBN could reach his remotely located house in Dhokra the policemen who guard him whisked him away.

There seem to be many loopholes in the Nanavati Commission Report and now it is for the Supreme Court to pass the final verdict.

(Source)