AHMEDABAD: A passenger of the S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express told the G.T. Nanavati - K.G. Shah judicial inquiry commission, probing the Godhra train carnage and the post-Godhra communal riots in Gujarat, here on Saturday that a Muslim tea vendor was "thrown'' out of the coach at the Godhra railway station by kar sevaks travelling in the coach.

Virpal Chedilal, who was travelling in the train with his wife and daughter-in-law, told the commission that he and some other passengers were prevented by kar sevaks from taking tea from the vendor just because he was a Muslim. The vendor was "bundled out'' of the coach by the slogan-shouting kar sevaks which he believed could have sparked off the disturbances. He said that when the train had halted at the Godhra platform, he had got down to buy some snacks and at that time "everything looked normal'' and there was no tension.

He said all through the journey up to Godhra, the kar sevak's behaviour with other passengers and railway officials was "very very bad and rude.'' Another passenger, Ram Naresh Gupta, also told the commission that though he had five confirmed berths in the adjoining S-7 coach, he was rudely turned down by the kar sevaks who had occupied them, and he and his family had to travel sitting at the narrow passage adjacent to the lavatory in S-6 coach.

Both Mr. Virpal Chedial and Mr. Gupta were late entrants on the list of witnesses who were included at the request of the State Government. Both of them claimed that they had smelt heavy smoke "possibly emanating from burning petrol-like substance,'' but both admitted to having not seen anyone pouring inflammable fluid inside the compartment. Neither of them had either seen the fire till they managed to disembark from the coach nor had any idea how the fire started. But both of them were convinced that in the packed coach, carrying not less than 250 passengers, it was not possible for anyone to ignite a stove. Mr. Gupta said he heard some noise which could be caused by breaking of some "glass bottles'' but had no idea from where they came and what these contained.

Mr. Virpal, whose daughter-in-law is still "missing,'' said he had submitted an application at the Godhra railway station the next day about his daughter-in-law but so far the police had not found any trace of her. He was not aware of the inquest made on the bodies of the dead passengers nor was he shown the bodies to identify his missing daughter-in-law. At Godhra, he was told to go to Sola civil hospital in Ahmedabad where the bodies were kept but when he approach it on March 1, he was told that he was "too late'' and the bodies had already been disposed of. But neither the list of the dead passengers included his daughter-in-law nor in the DNA test of the bodies her death was confirmed. But in the last three and a half years he and the police had not been able to trace his daughter-in-law, he said.

The then inspector general of police, Vadodara range, which included Godhra region, Deepak Swaroop, told the commission that Chief Minister Narendra Modi insisted on visiting the burnt coach and the yard where the bodies were kept, even after he was informed about the "charged atmosphere and communal tension'' in the area following the incident. The police had a hard time to bring him out safely after being "mobbed'' by the local people when he visited the yard. He admitted that Mr. Modi had to return from Godhra by road because it had already become too dark for his helicopter to fly. Mr. Swaroop's testimony apparently give lie to the claims made earlier that he had returned by helicopter and could not have attended a meeting of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad at Lunavada, near Godhra, where the "revenge'' against Muslims during the "Gujarat Bandh'' the next day was allegedly planned. Mr. Swaroop's cross-examination is yet to be incompleted.

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