Slammed by no less than the Supreme Court for its inaction and incompetence in arresting the post-Godhra riots accused, Gujarat police woke up to track down a prime accused in the Naroda Patiya massacre.Shashikant Yuvraj Marathi alias Tinio was arrested from his in-law’s village in Jalgaon, Maharashtra last night.A resident of Gopinath Society in Naroda Patiya, he was was first arrested on June 28, 2002 for being part of the mob that carried out the massacre—over 80 people were killed and this was one of the riot cases highlighted by The Indian Express. But a month later, he was freed on bail. He was arrested again on August 14, 2003 for beating up a youth and the police moved court to cancel his bail. The Gujarat High Court cancelled his bail in the Naroda Patiya case on April 6, 2004, and ordered his arrest. But he absconded. He later sent a petition to the Supreme Court for bail but it was rejected. Earlier this month, while hearing a riot victim’s petition that the police had failed to arrest Shashikant who was still threatening Naroda Patiya residents, the Supreme Court questioned the role of the Gujarat police in the case. In a report dated February 7, 2005, Director General of Police A K Bhargava told the court that the police were resorting to sections 82 and 83 (attachment of property of absconding accused) of the Criminal Procedure Code to apprehend the accused. Later, in March, the DGP filed another report stating that proclamation under section 83 of CrPC had already been issued. The court said, ‘‘A period of about five months has expired, but we do not know whether any action under section 83 of the CrPC has been taken or not.’’
