The Hindu Business Line : Lalu orders fresh probe into Godhra incident

THE Railway Minister, Mr Lalu Prasad, on Wednesday ordered a fresh probe into the Godhra incident, in which 59 people were burnt alive when a fire devastated a coach of Sabarmati Express in Gujarat.

Winding up a discussion on the Railway Budget 2004-05, which was subsequently approved by the Lok Sabha by voice vote, Mr Prasad said the high-level departmental inquiry committee would probe the circumstances leading to the devastating fire and submit its report within three months.

Alleging a "conspiracy" behind the incident that led to the Gujarat riots in 2002, the Minister also told the Rajya Sabha later that the truth would come out after the committee submits its report. Mr Prasad quoted a report by the Forensic Science Laboratory of Gujarat that had concluded that the fire was caused when some person threw about 60 litres of a highly inflammable liquid from inside the ill-fated S6 coach. He charged that the forensic report had been deliberately swept under the carpet by the NDA regime at the Centre and the Narendra Modi-led BJP Government of Gujarat.

While the NDA boycotted the proceedings of the Lok Sabha on the issue of "tainted Ministers", the former Railway Minister, Mr Nitish Kumar, and his deputy, Mr Digvijay Singh, briefed newspersons later and defended the NDA Government's role in the issue.

Mr Kumar said that the Railway Minister was trying to "politicise" the incident and "create suspicion in the minds of a certain section of society" by ordering a fresh inquiry into the incident.

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Lalu orders fresh probe into Godhra incident