Godhra accused SIT's 'best friends'

AHMEDABAD/VADODARA: Accused in the Godhra train carnage case, lodged in the cramped barracks of Sabarmati Central Jail for over two years now, are fast becoming the investigators'' ''best friends''.
Growing frustration, attributed to prolonged imprisonment, has led them to quarrel before the camera whenever they appear before the Pota court for trial.And the Special Investigation Team is glad every time an accused complains against another. The government had restricted the movement of the accused, charged under Pota for the Godhra train carnage, and the case is being heard in-camera on the jail premises. At present, 83 of the accused in the case are in custody.
They are supposed to be produced before the court every 15 days.
Some accused had complained about the bullying attitude of Idris Ibrahim Charkha and Irfan Siraj Pada during the last two appearances before the Pota judge.
Officers probing the case believe that these in-camera allegations can prove to be vital evidence when the trial resumes. Godhra is among a dozen cases in which trials have been stayed by the Supreme Court on a petition, demanding its transfer outside Gujarat.
Sources say that after the allegations against Charkha and Pada, they were shifted to the high security zone of the jail.
About a month ago, Charkha had accused Maulana Hussain Umarji of being the mastermind and had called him a ''gaddaar'' (traitor). He was made to see a psychiatrist in Civil Hospital when someone complained that he was losing his balance. However, investigators are looking forward to internal bickerings like these.
Earlier, confessions before the magistrate by Anwar Abdul Sattar Kalandar had led to the arrest of Jabbir Binyamin Behera and others.
Later, Behera made a similar confession saying Umarji had directed the attack on the train, thus buttressing the SIT''s ''conspiracy'' theory. Umarji was soon arrested and Pota was applied on the case in February last year.
There were also allegations against Abdul Razzak Kurkur — owner of Aman guest house in Godhra where the conspiracy was allegedly hatched — of being "a notorious element". "People like Umarji and Kurkur were always suspected of being prime conspirators. Now, the other accused are also saying it," SIT officers said.
However, lawyers defending the accused said these outbursts could be because of long period of incarceration. "Under such circumstances, anybody would get frustrated.
Maybe, they are giving vent to their pent-up emotions," said Yusuf Charkha, a defence lawyer from Godhra. He believes that such infighting can have no impact on the case.