10 arrested in Gujarat for 2002 violence

Ten including a priest have been arrested in Vadodara in connection with a case of communal violence of 2002.

Ten people including a priest have been arrested in Vadodara in connection with a reopened case of communal violence of 2002, police said on Tuesday.

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According to the police, they were arrested on Monday night for burning a restaurant in the Harni neighbourhood of Vadodara, 110 kms from Ahmedabad.

The hotel was set on fire by a 1,000-strong mob on Feb 28, 2002—the day the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) had given a call for a statewide shutdown to protest the killing of 59 Hindu passengers in a train bogey at Godhra a day before.

Police have arrested the head priest of a Hanuman temple in Harni, Purushottamgiri Gosai, and three members of his family along with a couple of builders from the same locality.

Police had closed the case in 2003 after finding no evidence.

However, the case, along with many others related to the communal violence in the state in 2002, was reopened for investigation on the recommendation of a special police cell set up following a direction of the Supreme Court in 2004.

Earlier this month, 21 people were arrested from Bhiloda town of north Gujarat in two reopened cases.

After the Supreme Court's direction 1,594 cases pertaining to the sectarian violence were reopened from a total of 2,020 cases reviewed.

At least 1,000 people lost their lives in the 2002 communal violence in Gujarat.