Modi: Conspiracy cry

Ahmedabad, Sept. 2: The Centre’s decision to order an inquiry into the Godhra train fire has rattled the Gujarat government.

Law minister Ashok Bhatt refused to comment on the decision. “I have nothing to say about it,’’ he said, when asked for his views.

But government counsel Arvind Pandya questioned the move, saying the inquiry would serve no purpose.

An angry VHP described the decision as “legally and morally’’ unjustified. “The Centre intends to derail the ongoing probe which is moving in the right direction’’, said VHP general secretary Dilip Trivedi.

Some people said to be close to chief minister Narendra Modi echoed him, claiming that this was a conspiracy to “interrupt the Nanavati Shah commission”, which is probing the Godhra fire and the anti-Muslim riots it triggered.

The special investigation team of Gujarat police that looked into the “conspiracy angle” of the Godhra fire appears to be groping in the dark more than two years after the incident. It has filed eight chargesheets so far and examined many conspiracy theories, but is yet to unravel the mystery.

DGP A.K. Bhargav said Gujarat police would cooperate with the inquiry committee. He defended the filing of eight chargesheets by the state police’s special investigation team, saying that as new facts emerged and accused were caught, new chargesheets had to be filed.

The first chargesheet said a mob had torched the train from outside. But the second chargesheet — filed after forensic reports made it clear the blaze could not have started from outside — said the train was set on fire from inside.

The names of conspirators the police have come up with have also kept changing. Initially, Haji Bilal and Mohammed Kalota were said to be the main conspirators. More than a year after the incident in 2002, the name of Maulana Umarji surfaced as the kingpin.

The police claim they have established the conspiracy theory and hope to get evidence to establish the conspirators’ foreign links.

A Modi aide today alleged that the new inquiry was a political ploy to save the skin of some Godhra accused affiliated to the Congress.

Railway minister Laloo Prasad Yadav is desperate to boost his pro-minority image as Bihar Assembly elections are around the corner, he said. This probe, the Modi aide, alleged is aimed at cementing Yadav-Muslim unity in the election-bound state.