On the fifth day of recording statements of riot victims, cops continued to come in for praise for their ‘‘work during the riots.’’ But one riot victim said he had sought help from the President when told by then Commissioner of Police P.C. Pande that ‘‘Main Bhagwan nahin hoon jo tumhe bachane aaoon (I’m not God that I will come and save you).’’Bashir Ismail Qureshi, a resident of Bakara Mandi in Ranip, today claimed before the two-member riot inquiry commission that on March 1, 2002, when a mob of about 20,000 persons gheraoed their locality, he had called up Pande. After being turned down, he telephoned the Rashtrapati Bhavan for help. The President’s secretary reportedly assured him that the state’s Governor would immediately be informed.Qureshi said after calling up Kalam, he also telephoned Gujarat Governor Sunder Singh Bhandari, who assured him help. That’s when 15-20 police vehicles arrived and dispersed the rioting mob. Nine other persons deposed today. However, they too, like residents of Vejalpur, Navrangpura, Satellite, Sola and Ghatlodia, praised cops for their help. Aslam Afzalhussain Qureshi, a resident of Bakra Mandi, said at least 30 per cent of Muslim residents of the estimated 1,000 families in the area had shifted to other places fearing threat to their lives. They ultimately asked the Commissioner of Police to shift them to ‘‘a safer place.’’Yunus Hanif Sheikh, resident of Chainpur locality in Sabarmati, said his neighbours had asked him and another Muslim family to move out as they ‘‘apprehended threat to our lives.’’ ‘‘But we continued to stay and the next day, the locality was gheroed by a mob.’’ Before the commission began work for the day, it informed that tomorrow would be the last day of recording statements during the first phase and that it would resume again from July 28 with Shahpur police station. The second phase will go on till August 1. The commission also said it had received more than 4,000 affidavits from riot victims, many of who did not come to depose.All affidavits will be scrutinised before the report. It said police and government officials could also come forward to give their versions but as of now the priority was to take statements of riot victims.
