'Sonia Gandhi's memoir claim is wrong': Ex-CBI officer says Godhra train fire was deliberate

In an interview with news agency ANI, Asthana said investigators had examined multiple theories before gathering evidence linking the accused to the incident.

He maintained that the findings were subsequently scrutinised by the Nanavati Commission, a Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) and the courts.

Reacting to the passage in Gandhi’s memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, Asthana said: "That is completely wrong; the investigation is authentic. It has been proved in the court of law. Even now, if someone is creating doubt about it, then it is for political reasons; there can be no other explanation for it."

In her book, Gandhi wrote: "The riots were triggered when four coaches of the Sabarmati Express were set on fire, and 59 pilgrims died. The train was returning to the state capital Ahmedabad from Ayodhya, carrying Hindu karsevaks, volunteers for the Ram temple.

"The cause of the fire remains disputed, but the turmoil that followed spread to many parts of the state."

Asthana rejects claims of political motivation

Asked whether doubts over the Godhra investigation were being raised for vote-bank politics, Asthana said the police had approached the deaths as a criminal case, without considering the victims’ religious identities.

"All the people who died in Godhra were Hindus. And whoever's death it may be—whether a Hindu's, a Muslim's, a Christian's, or a Sikh's—death is death, murder is murder. So we investigated it as a criminal act. But unfortunately, the issue was made out in such a way that an attempt was made to investigate the case to benefit Mr. Modi," he said.

Asthana argued that the investigation had undergone extensive scrutiny and that its findings were supported by subsequent inquiries and judicial decisions.

Supreme Court-appointed SIT examined police probe

Asthana said the Gujarat Police investigation, initially conducted by the CID Crime unit, continued until 2008 before a Supreme Court-appointed SIT reviewed the case in detail.

The team was headed by then CBI Director RK Raghavan, with former Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police CB Satpathy also involved.

According to Asthana, Satpathy led the SIT whenever Raghavan was unavailable.

He said the team revisited the crime scene, examined the evidence and questioned the officers who had conducted the original investigation.

"They examined the entire investigation again. In fact, they examined us as well. We explained to them what investigation we had carried out. They visited the site and examined everything. They then concluded that they could not find any flaw in the investigation conducted by the Gujarat Police," Asthana said.

He added that Raghavan and Satpathy submitted their findings to the Supreme Court, which accepted the report. The subsequent trial proceeded based on the investigation, resulting in convictions in 2011, he said.

Nanavati Commission found evidence of conspiracy

Asthana also cited the findings of the Nanavati Commission, established by the Gujarat government in 2002 to investigate the Godhra train burning and the communal violence that followed.

The commission was initially headed by Justice KG Shah before Justice Nanavati joined in May 2002.

It examined the train fire and the subsequent riots separately.

According to Asthana, the commission’s report on the Godhra incident, submitted in 2008, concluded that the fire was the result of a pre-planned conspiracy and had been deliberately set.

He said the commission received around 44,000 affidavits and examined more than 1,000 witnesses during its proceedings.

Asthana contrasted these findings with those of a committee headed by Justice UC Banerjee, constituted in 2004 by then Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav.

The committee concluded that the fire was accidental and suggested that a stove carried in the coach occupied by the karsevaks could have caused it.

Asthana said the Banerjee Committee’s report was challenged in the Gujarat High Court, which ruled that the committee was illegal because a commission constituted under the Commission of Inquiry Act was already investigating the incident.

He added that the report was subsequently set aside.

"The fact is that the investigation established that the fire was deliberate. The commission established it, the Supreme Court-appointed SIT established it, and the courts convicted the accused based on the same evidence," he said.

'Muslim officers played crucial role'

Rakesh Asthana said that then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi provided him with Muslim police officers to assist in the investigation.

Speaking to ANI, Asthana said he faced no pressure during the probe and had specifically requested Muslim officers because Muslims predominantly inhabited the area where the incident occurred.

"There was no pressure. On the contrary, I would like to say that in the initial investigation, I saw that the area in which the incident took place was totally inhabited by the Muslims. So to conduct an investigation in the Muslim area, you need Muslim officers, practically speaking, professionally speaking. I requested him to give me a few Muslim officers to be attached to the investigation team," he said.

Asthana added that the officers played a crucial role in the investigation.

He cited the example of two Muslim constables who spent around six weeks working undercover as bangle and sari sellers to trace an accused who had subsequently fled to Pakistan.

"For a month and a half, they did this very diligently, honestly and sincerely. Undercover. And we could locate. The second thing is that the day we raided, he slipped. Mob assault was done on the police. But this work was done by the Muslim officers. And any restriction, be it the Chief Minister or Home Minister or Gujarat government, I was given the free hand to investigate," he said.

59 people killed in Sabarmati Express fire

On February 27, 2002, coach S-6 of the Sabarmati Express caught fire near Godhra railway station in Gujarat, killing 59 people, including women and children.

The train was carrying Hindu karsevaks returning from Ayodhya.

The incident was followed by widespread communal violence in several parts of Gujarat, in which hundreds of people were killed.

In 2011, a special court convicted 31 people in connection with the train burning. The Gujarat High Court, in 2014, upheld the convictions of 11 accused while acquitting 20 others.

The Supreme Court subsequently upheld the Gujarat High Court’s verdict and dismissed appeals filed by the convicts in the case.