Jafri ‘blamed’ for his murder

The chargesheet, filed by Assistant Commissioner S.S. Chudasama, in the court of Metropolitan Magistrate R.I. Raval, names 50 accused. Prime accused Kailash Dhobi and 24 others have been arrested, while 25 others are at large. Most accused are locals.

The charges brought against the accused relate to murder, rape, arson, loot, violence, criminal conspiracy, illegal assembly and defying orders issued by the commissioner.

It says the 20,000-strong mob, which gathered at Gulbarg, was driven by the intention of taking revenge for the Godhra attack. The mob became more violent after Jafri fired with his licensed revolver. ‘‘It was after firing by Jafri that the mob got violent and attacked the locality,’’ it says.

The chargesheet claims that 10 persons were injured in the firing by Jafri, one of whom, Ramesh Marathi, later succumbed to his injuries.

Commenting on the charge-sheet, a senior officer said, ‘‘Was there firing by Jafri at Naroda-Patiya as well where over 80 persons were killed? The mob had gathered with the intention to kill.’’

Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) P.P. Pandey said, ‘‘The chargesheet has been filed on the basis of preliminary investigations. What made the incident happen will be determined during investigation. Why don’t you talk to the investigating officer.’’

Repeated attempts to contact Chudasama proved futile. Police commissioner K.R. Kaushik said he hasn’t gone through it yet.

Of the 25 accused shown as arrested in the chargesheet, only three are from the list of 11 named in the FIR. Six others including local BJP leader Deepak alias Pradeep, have been shown as absconders, while two others — Mukesh Mochi and Manilal Velchand — do not figure at all.