Panel to call Atal, George

The Godhra riot commission will be writing letters to former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, former Defence Minister George Fernandes a...

The Godhra riot commission will be writing letters to former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, former Defence Minister George Fernandes and former Governor Sundar Singh Bhandari, asking them if they8217;d like to depose before the commission which is probing the S-6 Sabarmati train carnage and the post-Godhra communal flare-up.

The decision to write letters to the three dignitaries was taken by Justice G T Nanavati and Justice K G Shah on Thursday after hearing an application filed by advocate Mukul Sinha requesting the commission to summon them. The commission would send letters to former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and former Gujarat Governor Sundar Singh Bhandari in connection with their statements in media about alleged 8216;mishandling8217; of the riots in 2002 by the State Government. They will also attach a copy of the application made by Mukul Sinha requesting them to depose before the commission.

A similar letter would be written to the then Defence Minister George Fernandes in connection with queries regarding the deployment of army in the State in 2002.

The commission also said that it would hear on June 17 a fresh application filed by Mukul Sinha seeking to summon the prime witness in the Best Bakery case Zaheera Sheikh as she had not replied to several questions during her cross-examination before the commission in May 2005.

The riot commission also cross-examined a railway employee on Thursday, and delved into the controversial chain-pulling aspect of the Sabarmati Express train where 59 kar sevaks were killed.

Fatehsinh Solanki, a pointsman, who was part of the team that attended to the ill-fated Sabarmati Express, said during his cross-examination that the vacuum pipe of the S-6 coach was already 8220;tampered8221; with when he had arrived at the site. During his cross-examination before Commission, Solanki said that he was merely following instructions when told to attend to the S-6 and S-7 coaches.

Admitting no train could move without the vacuum being brought to normal mode, Fatehsinh said he was not sure how the coaches managed to move and were brought to a halt once they were removed from the tracks and brought to the yard for work. His statement added more confusion to the chain-pulling theory.