Godhra train carnage: Eight accused still on run, police keep a tab on their relatives, friends
The police got their biggest breakthrough in July 2016, when they arrested Imran Bhatuk who is alleged to be one of the key accused who allegedly conspired the attack on the Sabarmati Express.
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The police got their biggest breakthrough in July 2016, when they arrested Imran Bhatuk alias Sheru reportedly from Malegaon in Maharashtra. (Express archive)
Seven years after a trial court convicted 31 people in connection with the 2002 burning of the S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express that killed 59 people — mostly karsevaks returning from Ayodhya — and triggered a wave of riots across Gujarat, eight of the accused still continue to elude the police. Of these eight, three have no clear records in the case papers, not even their correct names and addresses.
Gujarat Police has arrested eight of the accused in the past three years.
The latest to be arrested was 63-year-old Yakub Abdulgani Pataliya. He was arrested by Godhra police on January 30 when he was visiting Vadodara. Six of his family members have been accused in the same case. While his brother Kadir Abdulgani Pataliya died about four months ago as an undertrial, his cousin Shaukat Bhano Pataliya, who was sentenced to life imprisonment, died in 2012 in jail. His uncle Ayub Abdul Gani Pataliya and cousin Irfan Hanif Patadiya were among the 11 convicts who are currently serving life imprisonment. Kadir’s son Shakir, then a juvenile, was kept in a remand home for six years in connection with the case.
The police got their biggest breakthrough in July 2016, when they arrested Imran Bhatuk alias Sheru reportedly from Malegaon in Maharashtra. Police claimed that Imran had fled from Godhra seven months after the killings, and hid himself in Nandurbar among other places. He worked in hotels and had got married to one Aminabaano in Dhulia before settling in Malegaon, said police.
Bhatuk is alleged to be one of the key accused who allegedly conspired the attack on the Sabarmati Express on morning of February 27, 2002.
In 2016, the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of Gujarat Police arrested Farooq Bhana, who was the corporator representing Polan-Bazar area of Godhra at the time of the incident. He was nabbed from Kalol-Khadki toll plaza in the Panchmahal district, where he had reportedly gone to meet family members.
“We have a list of people wanted in several serious offences. We are keeping a tab on their relatives, close friends and others to get a clue about their possible hideout. It is a difficult job which needs a lot of patience. These kinds of operations are based on technical serveillance (such as phone tapping) as well as human resources,” said an ATS officer closely associated with the investigation.
The other accused who were arrested since 2015 are Ismail Yusuf Chunga, Hussein Suleman Mohan, Kasam Ibrahim Ismail Bamedi and Farooq Hafeez Mohammad Dhantia.
Apart from Yakub Pataliya, against whom chargesheet is yet to be filed, all are facing trial.
Police in their FIR have listed over 125 accused for burning the Sabarmati Express coach. Of them, chargesheet was filed against 107, while eight were tried by a juvenile court. Five of the 107 chargesheeted died during the pendency of the trial.
The Supreme Court appointed-Special Investigation Team (SIT) in its investigation found that there was a conspiracy to kill the karsevaks.
In 2011, a special court convicted 31 people — 11 were sentenced to death sentence, while 20 got life imprisonment. The court acquitted 63 people, including one of the main accused, Maulana Umarji, who passed away in 2013.
In October last year, the Gujarat High Court commuted the death sentence on the 11 convicts to life imprisonment. The SIT has sent its opinion to the Gujarat government for permission to approach Supreme Court to challenge the High Court judgment. The state is yet to revert to its request.
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