Firefighter recounts Bakery horror

When firefighter Dayaram Pal reached the Best Bakery site at 10.50 am on March 2, 2002, the last embers of the fire that had destroyed the B...

When firefighter Dayaram Pal reached the Best Bakery site at 10.50 am on March 2, 2002, the last embers of the fire that had destroyed the Bakery were still glowing.

8216;8216;Ek maaji upar thi aur upar se awaz aa rahi thii, bachao, bachao An old woman was standing on the terrace, crying for help,8217;8217; Dayaram deposed before the special court today.

Since the retrial started on October 4 before judge Abhay Thipsay, eight witnesses have already deposed.

Most have been police witnesses who were present when panchnamas were being drawn up 8212; they have verified various details of the incident as recorded by the police the day after. Dayaram was the first to provide an eyewitness account of the carnage in which 14 persons were killed.

Dayaram said that around 10.50 am on March 2, the fire station at Gajrawadi received a call that a building at Hanumannagar Shankarwadi was set afire. 8216;8216;Within minutes we reached the spot,8217;8217; Pal said.

A two-storey building and the adjoining houses were on fire. There was commotion all around and a mob stood some distance away, he said.

The fire brigade immediately set about trying to bring the fire under control, Dayaram said. As the team went around the premises, they saw bodies lying on the ground behind the houses.

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8216;8216;One of the first things we did was to bring the old lady down from the terrace,8217;8217; Pal said.

8216;8216;As we came down to the first floor, we saw three women and four children lying dead. Their bodies were badly burnt and had shrivelled and stiffened. The bodies of the children were the most badly burnt,8217;8217; he said.

Dayaram said he had also seen a burnt goat8217;s body. The bodies were then sent to the mortuary and the injured were sent to hospital, he said.

Defence advocates will cross-examine Dayaram on Friday.

Earlier in the day, more witnesses had been examined. Jagdishbhai Desai, the eighth witness, identified a 75-inch sword recovered near the residence of an accused named Mafatlal, who is currently absconding. Many swords were presented before him and Desai picked the correct one 8212; a sword almost three feet long and two inches wide.