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Panel says Godhra train fire accidental
The burning of a train that triggered India's worst religious riots in a decade was caused by an "accidental fire" and not by a suspected Muslim mob as first charged, a government investigation said on Monday.
Fifty-nine Hindu pilgrims, including women and children, died when a carriage caught alight in Godhra in Gujarat in February, 2002, an incident blamed on a Muslim mob and which triggered the revenge slaughter of more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims.
The coalition that ousted India's Hindu-nationalist government last May set up a panel to probe the incident because of doubts over the real cause of the fire.
The finding is a blow to the Hindu-nationalist BJP government that still rules Gujarat. It was widely accused of turning a blind eye to the reprisal killings, something it denies.
"There has been a preponderance of evidence that the fire originated in the coach itself without any external input," the government said in a statement after the report was released.
The government is still awaiting the findings of a separate investigation by a panel of judges into the train fire and the subsequent riots.
The state government and police had accused a Muslim mob of torching the train and charged more than 100 Muslims.
No one has yet been convicted over the train fire and only a handful of people have been convicted over the riots.
"With the elimination of the 'petrol theory', 'miscreant activity theory' as well as the ruling out of any possibility of 'electrical fire', the fire... can at this stage be ascribed as an accidental fire," the investigation panel said. The panel was led by a judge and included rail safety experts.
In an interim report, the panel also scotched suggestions an inflammable liquid had been used from outside, saying there was evidence cooking inside the train may have caused the fire.
The panel's conclusions were based on documentary evidence and witness statements.
The panel is expected to submit its final report to the government in the next two months. |
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