Godhra Kand: Once again the political and legal debate regarding the Sabarmati Express fire incident has intensified. A debate has erupted over a statement written in former Congress President Sonia Gandhi's book 'Belonging: A Journey of Love' regarding the Sabarmati Express fire incident that led to the Gujarat riots in 2002. He has written in the book that there is a controversy over what was the reason for the fire in Sabarmati Express. Rakesh Asthana, the officer investigating the Sabarmati Express fire incident, has raised questions on Sonia Gandhi's comment. He says that the fire in the train was not due to any accident, but there was a conspiracy behind it.
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In an interview given to the media, Rakesh Asthana claimed that during the investigation, such evidence had come to light which revealed a conspiracy to set fire to the bogie of Sabarmati Express. According to him, there was a big plan behind this incident to destabilize India and the investigation had also revealed links with Pakistan.
Referring to Aman Guest House owner Abdul Razzaq Kurkur, Asthana said that during the investigation, information was received about calls coming from Pakistan and activities of people associated with Hizbul. He also claimed that no pressure was put on him by the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi or the state government during the investigation.
Questions raised on the theory of fire starting from stove
In its report, the UC Banerjee Committee formed to investigate the Sabarmati Express fire had attributed the fire to the stoves of the kar sevaks. Asthana disagreed on this. He claims that this report was rejected by the Gujarat High Court and evidence was presented in the court in favor of the fire being deliberately set.
It is noteworthy that on February 27, 2002, 59 people died in a fire in a compartment of Sabarmati Express near Godhra station. After this incident, large-scale communal violence broke out in Gujarat. Now after the comments made in Sonia Gandhi's book and Rakesh Asthana's reply, this old matter is once again in discussion.